Overview The Portland Pride Waterfront Festival and Parade is the largest LGBTQIA2S+ cultural celebration in Oregon and SW Washington, held one July weekend in downtown Portland. Pride Northwest, a nonprofit founded to sustain the festival, produces it. The festival runs two days along Tom McCall Waterfront Park by the Willamette. Sunday, the parade leaves the North Park Blocks and ends on Naito Parkway at the festival gates. Entry is free. A donation is suggested, and no one is turned away at the gate. On site Exhibitor tents line the waterfront from end to end. Two stages, North and South, run drag, music, comedy and ballroom from noon Saturday into the evening, and again Sunday as the parade arrives. Exhibitors range from high school GSAs and small nonprofits to regional businesses and national corporations, and Pride Northwest runs its own bars on the grounds. A VIP pass opens two VIP sections facing the main stages, with a photo booth and meet-and-greets. Partner events carry the weekend into downtown at the Midtown Beer Garden and the Old Town Block Party. Audience LGBTQIA2S+ people travel in from across the Pacific Northwest and beyond, and for many it is the one weekend of the year they celebrate in a safe, open, public setting. Allies, families, youth, and nonprofit and civic leaders come with them. Parade contingents march, dance and ride floats past crowds several deep along the downtown route, then walk straight into the festival. Talent and Influencers Headliners are announced each spring and share their sets with local performers. Past headliners include DeJa Skye of RuPaul's Drag Race, Chicago drag king Tenderoni and Emmy-winning makeup artist Lushious Massacr, who brought the Latine drag troupe Noche Kaliente on stage with her. Titleholders from the Gay Prides of Portland Pageant, which Pride Northwest has staged since 2000, appear at the festival and in the parade during their title year. Track record Pride Northwest has produced the festival for more than three decades, and the City of Portland designates it a Legacy event. The Portland Pride Parade is the largest parade of any kind in Oregon. An economic impact study commissioned by Pride Northwest put the festival's contribution at up to $11.4 million for the regional economy and up to $4.2 million in tax revenue. Downtown businesses extend hours and add staff. Hotels run Pride rates. Brand presence Sponsors take exhibitor space on the waterfront, put a contingent in the parade and run spots on the festival big screen between sets. Hip Chicks do Wine, one of the first openly queer-owned wineries in the country, has poured at the Pride Northwest bars as official wine sponsor for two decades. Sponsor money also underwrites booth fees for small LGBTQIA2S+ businesses and nonprofits, and every sponsor is invited to the partner appreciation celebration Pride Northwest holds each fall.