First Santa Monica Pride Festival slated for June 3

The month-long celebration SaMo PRIDE returns in June with activities and experiences that honor the LGBTQ+ community. 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.

On Saturday, June the first-ever Sa o P E estival will turn the entire downtown district, from the Third Street Promenade through Santa Monica Place to the Santa Monica Pier, into a PRIDE zone. 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.

“Colors of PRIDE” photobooth installations, designed by LGBTQ+ artists, will be placed throughout the SaMo PRIDE estival 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 L T Progress P E flag.

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 riday through Sunday in June at Santa onica 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 the City’s PRIDE Proclamation on May 23; live music, theatre and dance performances by SO O T A ES on June ainbow amily Storytime at the Santa Monica Public Library on June 6; an AIDS LifeCycle ide finish line celebration on June ueer Prom for L T youth on June rag ueen Storytime on June P E sunset swim at the Annenberg Community Beach House on June 23; Sapphic Poetry Workshop on June

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 onica ay area L T elders, opening June . or more information and the full calendar of Sa o PRIDE events visit smpride.com. or sponsorship in uiries please reach out to TS , nc. Director of Marketing & Partnerships Ariana Gomez at ariana@downtownsm.com.