For a long time, Miami had politely excused itself from partaking in annual World Pride Month celebrations. By June, the Miami sun is already hot enough to melt off even the most seasoned drag queen’s full face—and who wants to plan a parade in the midst of hurricane season Besides, New York pretty much has the East Coast covered when it comes to Pride festivities, and April’s Miami Beach Pride is a fun way to kick everything off. At least, this had been the thinking from 1995 until around five years ago, when Wynwood Pride was born.
The annual Pride celebration on the mainland stands defiantly in the face of heat waves, tropical storms and gay flight to Fire Island, boldly asserting: We’re here, we’re queer and Miami’s LGBTQ+ community deserves the world—including a proper World Pride celebration alongside everyone else. The concept was to create a more music and performance-driven atmosphere in the heart of Miami’s booming arts district that appealed to different ages and underserved groups. “The core belief was to be a Pride for everyone,” says Liza Santana, Wynwood Pride’s founding spokesperson.
When is Wynwood Pride 2023?
Rather than a weekend-long festival as in previous years, Wynwood Pride 2023 spans World Pride Month with panels, parties and performances going down primarily over the weekends this June. Kick-off events include a night of discussions and live music at Perez Art Museum Miami in collaboration with III Points festival, and a pool party at the new Arlo Wynwood, this year’s official host hotel. Aside from Miss Toto’s latest iteration of “Funhouse” at the psychedelic kids’ play space FunDimension (June 9), this year’s highlights include Tinashe and Ty Sunderland headlining the Wynwood Pride Music Festival at Oasis (June 10), the Wynwood Pride Bar Crawl (June 17) and DJ Eli Escobar playing at Floyd (June 23).
