This weekend, about 500,000 people are expected to come out for Denver Pride, a line-up of events that uplifts the Rocky Mountain LGBTQ+ community – and this year’s parade will have both a new name and a new route.
“We are about the fourth largest in the country,” after New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco (and sometimes Atlanta), according to the new CEO of the Center on Colfax, Kim Salvaggio, 49, who began her job a month ago after working at Rocky Mountain Public Media.
The parade, along with a festival and a 5K race, are all produced by The Center on Colfax, a Denver-based nonprofit with offices on Colfax Avenue, that provides year-round programs and services for the LGBTQ+ community for free.
The Parade
The parade is now called “The Vizzy Denver Pride Parade”, and will occur on Sunday at 9:30 AM.
Why the new name?
Vizzy Hard Seltzer is a component of the Molson Coors brand, and “Molson Coors is continuing their partnership with Denver Pride through the Vizzy Hard Seltzer brand,” according to the Center, whose website also states that the brand has sponsored Pride events across the country, donating over $1.3 million to LGBTQ+ organizations and working directly with LGBTQ+-owned businesses and community leaders, including the Center on Colfax. Salvaggio declined to give the dollar amount of their sponsorship.
The route the parade will take is different this year. The step-off point for the parade will be at 17th Avenue and Franklin Street; the parade then will travel along 17th Avenue to the end point at 17th Avenue and Lincoln Street.
This shift is because of construction for the East Colfax Bus Rapid Transit project happening along Colfax Avenue.
“The joke I’ve been telling people,” Salvaggio said, “is if you’ve been on Colfax recently, you know why there’s a change.” Construction makes walking that part of Colfax difficult, with the sidewalks altered and lots of driving delays as well.
The perks of the new route, according to Salvaggio, are that “businesses along 17th “are really excited, and 17th offers more shade, too.” Salvaggio said about 13,000 marchers and 250 participants – people who have a float or a group that’s come together – are expected to take part. That number remains close to the same as last year, when there were about 230 participants and some 13,00 marchers.
This year’s parade Grand Marshals are the Transcontinental Pipeline, a non-profit that helps trans people relocate to Colorado and other states considered safer for trans people, and Colorado Health Network, serving more than 5,000 individuals living with HIV.
The other events: A festival and a 5K race
There’s a 5K race on Saturday morning, with check-in starting at 8 am and the race itself starting at 9:30 a.m.. Its route, which is not changing from last year’s, starts on Lincoln between Colfax and 14th, just west of the State Capitol. The race goes on 14th to Cheesman Park and back, and about 4,000 people are expected to participate.
The other main attraction is Denver PrideFest, which will take place on both days, in and around Civic Center Park. On Saturday, it will start at 11, and on Sunday, it starts at 10.
There will be more than 250 exhibitors, 30 food vendors, and live performances from Pattie Gonia, Detox, Vanessa Vanjie and CHIKA.
At Dance World, one component of the festival, there will be a different DJ every hour, and there will also be a “Gayborhood Market,” where, according to Salvaggio, there will be 90 queer-owned businesses, some Colorado-based brick-and-mortars, and some with only an online presence. Salvaggio said that last year, that marketplace event was so successful that they decided to make it larger this time around. “We doubled that in size from last year to this year,” she said.
Some of this year’s sponsors for the weekend of events include Denver 7, Eldorado Natural Spring Water, Absolut, PepsiCo, Southwest Airlines, Comcast, King Soopers, and Kroger.
But who gave what amount was not information Salvaggio provided, adding, “We aren’t comfortable releasing the dollars and cents amounts for each sponsor.”
