Pride In The Park 2020 expands to two-day event in Grant Park

Pride In The Park will be back this June – with twice the fun.

Pride In The Park will be two days this year, June 27-28, with two performance stages and new partnerships.

The inaugural Pride In The Park, held last June in Grant Park in downtown Chicago, drew about 5,500 attendees.

Organizer Dusty Carpenter said the goal for the 2020 event is to "expand what we started last year and increase vendors and sponsorship, to give our guests even more to experience."

The second performance stage, for instance, will be focused on circuit music on Saturday and Chicago house music on Sunday. 

"Expanding to two days was always the plan," Carpenter said. "To build the type of production we want, it would be a waste to put it up for just one day. Plus, we wanted to create another option for people to celebrate after the Pride Parade on Sunday. With over 1.2 million people enjoying the Chicago Pride Parade, we saw a need for a big after-party, especially for LGBTQ+ youth who can't go to the bars.

"We learned last year that the venue, Butler Field in Grant Park, is huge, and we have the room for a second stage. I was excited to reach out to CircuitMOM Productions to start planning this addition to the event. CircuitMOM Productions has been putting on LGBTQ+ events and parties for over 20 years, and their stage will feature some of the best international and local DJs and the outstanding production value that you would expect from one of their events."

Carpenter said the list of entertainers appearing at Pride In The Park will begin to be announced at the end of March.

Carpenter said they already have more sponsors than last year with some amazing activations planned. "We also have 50 more artists and merchandise vendors than 2019, and we are still accepting applications," he said,

Expected attendance at the 2020 event is 15,000.

The Center on Halsted will be the main charity partner again this year. "Along with financial support, we will also be donating tickets to the Center on Halsted to distribute to LGBTQ+ people who cannot afford tickets. We're doing our best to make the event accessible to as many people as we can," Carpenter said.

Early Bird GA tickets are $30 per day and Early Bird VIP tickets are $100 per day. "Because of the strong support we are receiving from sponsors after a successful 2019, we were able to lower our starting GA ticket price from $50 to $30. This will help make the event available to more people, but (it) still (will) have the same production value as 2019."

Carpenter said the 2019 Pride In The Park was a "great" event. "As with any new event, we hit a few bumps in the road and learned from them to create an even better year two," he said.

When asked about the 2019 event, Carpenter said the highlight came from Iggy Azalea – her speech on trans rights and protections, hands down. "We had no idea she was going to give a speech, and it was such a powerful moment," he said.

"The entire week (of the 2019 event) was a whirlwind. I can remember finally getting home at 4 a.m., and I couldn't sleep. I just laid there running the events of the day over and over again in my head. I was extremely proud of the team for pulling it off and helping create such a great festival for the city and the LGBTQ+ community."

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