(GayWebSource.com – Gay News & Press Network) – Posted by SeasonsofPride.com

Pride Charlotte – Charlotte Pride presents the annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer (LGBTQ) Pride festival and other events in the Queen City. The annual festival is the largest LGBTQ Pride event in the Carolinas and the largest between Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Charlotte, NC.

Charlotte Pride 2015

Charlotte Pride’s free two-day cultural festival in the PNC Bank Festival Zone includes diverse national, regional and local entertainers, musicians and bands, and numerous participating vending booths, including art exhibitors, area non-profits, political candidates, retailers, food stands and more. The premier event is the culmination of a week-long slate of Charlotte Pride Week events highlighting the social, cultural, ethnic, artistic and political diversity of the metro Charlotte area’s LGBTQ community.

The third annual Bank of America Charlotte Pride Parade will be held on Sunday, Aug. 16 on Tryon Street in Uptown Charlotte.

Charlotte Pride has a wonderful and long history of community support. Long before our founding, local LGBTQ community members were paving the way for future growth.

Pride or Pride-like festivities had been held in Charlotte since the 1970s, with events like carnivals and picnics held at a variety of locations, including UNC-Charlotte, Bryant Park and Marshall Park, the parking lot at Scorpio and The VanLandingham Estate.

In 2001, Charlotte Pride made its debut, hosting its first events in Marshall Park. From 2001-2005, Charlotte Pride’s independent organization of volunteers presented their annual events.

In 2006, a coalition of several community organizations and community leaders, including The LGBT Community Center of Charlotte, began planning the new “Pride Charlotte” following the suspension of activities by Charlotte Pride after a turbulent 2005 event marked by an overwhelming presence of local anti-LGBT protesters.

Pride Charlotte’s first event was held on Aug. 26, 2006, at Uptown’s Gateway Village. The event was hosted at Gateway Village in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In 2010, Pride Charlotte moved to the N.C. Music Factory.

In 2011, the event made a historic move to Uptown, holding its one-day festival on Aug. 27, 2011, on S. Tryon St., between 3rd St. and the Levine Avenue of the Arts.

In 2012, the festival made yet another historic decision, expanding to two days on Augu. 25-26, 2012, just one week before the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

In January 2013, the core group of longtime volunteers who worked with the Center from 2006-2012, as well as volunteers associated with 2001-2005 activities, restructured the festival and began organizing independently from the Center. In a nod to those who presented the annual events from 2001-2005, the organization reinstated the Charlotte Pride brand and reactivated the dormant Charlotte Pride, Inc. And, in a first for the Queen City since 1994, Charlotte Pride organizers announced a parade would be held.

Charlotte Pride hosted its largest and most successful event yet on Aug. 24-25, 2013, also hosting the Bank of America Charlotte Pride Parade, the first LGBTQ Pride Parade in Charlotte since 1994.

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