Santa Monica’s First SaMo Pride Festival!
On Saturday, June 3, the first-ever SaMo Pride Festival will turn the entire downtown district, from the Third Street Promenade through Santa Monica Place to the Santa Monica Pier, into a Pride zone. SaMo Pride is a citywide partnership between Santa Monica Place, Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., and Santa Monica Pier, in collaboration with the City of Santa Monica and Santa Monica Travel and Tourism.
For the first time, “Colors of Pride” photobooth installations, designed by LGBTQ+ artists, will be placed throughout the Pride Festival with fun, interactive props. Photos from the installations will be assembled to create a photographic mosaic, bringing the three districts together in a rainbow of colors that make up the LGBTQ+ Progress Pride flag.
All ages are welcome to enjoy live musical performances, Pride-related treats, free swag, games, and much more. The Santa Monica Public Library will share queer books for kids, featuring a special Drag Queen storytime, suited for all ages and abilities. Local service providers and community groups will offer support and resources for the LGBTQ+ community throughout the event along the Promenade. Presented in partnership with Cayton’s Children’s Museum, the Santa Monica Place family zone will provide kid-friendly Pride activities, transforming Center Plaza into an interactive space for kids to play and learn about inclusivity and acceptance.
The celebration continues throughout the month with events that bring together the community including the Made with Pride Marketplace, a unique retail pop-up hosted every Friday through Sunday in June at Santa Monica Place on Level One. Hosted in partnership with Streetlet, the Marketplace showcases over a dozen LGBTQ+ business owners, highlighting their stories and featuring local goods and services made, conceived, and curated in Southern California. Santa Monica Place will also host a live DJ spinning every weekend throughout the month where guests can enjoy music under “Lanterns of Love,” an overhead-colored lantern installation that spans across Center Plaza.
The City of Santa Monica is dedicated to increasing visibility and understanding of the broad spectrum of gender identities and experiences within the LGBTQ+ community. The City celebrates Pride with the month-long lighting of City Hall in rainbow colors and a series of educational, uplifting events during the month of June.
Community events include:
- May 23 – Pride Proclamation
- June 4 – Live music, theatre, and dance performances by Sorority: Waves
- June 6 – Rainbow Family Storytime at the Santa Monica Public Library
- June 10 – AIDS LifeCycle Ride Finish Line Celebration
- June 12 – Queer Prom for LGBTQ+ Youth
- June 16 – Drag Queen Storytime
- June 23 – Pride Sunset Swim at the Annenberg Community Beach House
- June 24 – Sapphic Poetry Workshop
- June 29 – Party With a Purpose Mixer and Fundraiser
The Santa Monica History Museum, in partnership with the OUTWORDS Archive, will feature the exhibit “Coming Out West”, a video-based collection of oral histories of Santa Monica Bay area LGBTQ+ elders, opening June 1.
Are you planning to go to Pride in San Diego? Since you’ll be in the Los Angeles area, you may want to check out our 14 Things to Do in L.A. article!
For more information and the full calendar of events visit smpride.com.
