This weekend's Pride celebrations expand to the city's biggest tourist attraction with the inaugural Navy Pier Pride, an all-day event on Saturday, June 25. Intended as a family-friendly festivity, the offerings include performances by About Face Youth Theatre and Milly's Orchid Show, a mass wedding ceremony and an outdoor dance party with DJ Ralphi Rosario.
On display as part of the event will be Chicago-centric sections of The NAMES Project’s AIDS Memorial Quilt, which last visited Navy Pier in 1988.
Among the day's highlights on the rainbow-festooned pier:
12pm: About Face Youth Theatre's It's For Real, featuring stories drawn from the performers' lives
1pm: The Lakeside Pride Marching Band leads a parade down the pier
1:30pm: A special edition of Milly's Orchid Show, a Chicago variety-show staple in the ’90s, with host Milly (Brigid Murphy) welcoming guests including Yuri Lane, ALEXA GRÆ and Robert Cornelius
5pm: "Chicago's Biggest Wedding," officiated by trans entrepreneur Angelica Ross
7pm: Dance party in the Miller Lite Beer Garden
10:15pm: Moment of silence for the Orlando shooting victims, followed by a Pride-themed fireworks display