Montreal’s Pride parade is just one of the highlights of the Fierté Montréal Festival, with major programming and activities happening throughout the week.
Photograph: Patrick Sicotte
We are the rainbow! Fierté Montréal Festival is the largest LGBTQ+ gathering in the Francophone world. In addition to the city’s welcoming LGBTQ+ bars and hangouts, Montreal is putting on a star-studded show.
Montreal’s first Pride march was held in June 1979 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. La Brigade Rose organizers in Montreal drew 52 marchers in 1979. Forty years later, in 2019, total attendance at Montreal Pride topped 3 million.
This summer’s festival features live in-person performances, concerts and activities on the Esplanade of the Olympic Park—Montreal Pride’s main site—as well as in the LGBTQ+ Village and downtown.
This 18th edition of the Fierté Montréal Festival runs from August 1 to 11, 2024.
Expect major free shows with more than 150 artists programmed. There is free admission to all events on the Esplanade of the Olympic Park.
For full programming, visit fiertemtl.com. Here are some programming highlights:
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Where to go after the parade? Check out the best LGBTQ+ bars and clubs
Time Out Market Montréal is throwing the ultimate Pride event: a family-friendly drag brunch hosted by sensational drag queen Barbada de Barbades. Take the biggest brunch in Montreal under one roof and add a free, family-friendly drag performances—with tons of activities for the kids—and you’ve got the best Pride plans in town. Head to the Market on Saturday, August 3, from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm. Make sure to reserve your free tickets here.
Beginning at 1 pm on August 11, the 2.5 km long Pride parade route begins in the former Gay Village in the downtown west end, running along René-Levesque Boulevard from Metcalfe Street to Alexandre DeSève Street in the heart of the current Village in the east. Don’t forget to observe the Minute of Silence at 2:30 pm to honour those the LGBTQ+ communities have lost to violence and AIDS.
Meet new people and discover many organizations, community groups and sports teams catering to the LGBTQ+ communities. Kiosks will be lined up along the Sainte-Catherine Street pedestrian mall between Saint-Hubert and Papineau streets in the Village, on August 9 and 10 from 11 am to 6 pm daily.
On August 9, the Olympic Park will host the biggest drag show ever presented in Montreal, billed as the “Soirée 100% Drag”: hosted by Barbada, MajestiX will showcase local drag royalty beginning at 7:30 pm, followed at 9 pm by Drag Superstars hosted by Rita Baga, which will feature drag artists from various RuPaul’s Drag Race franchises.
The superb Mundo Disko event returns to the Olympic Park’s Esplanade on August 10, from 3 to 11 pm featuring performances by internationally beloved house and disco divas Crystal Waters and France Joli.
The Loto-Québec Stage on the Esplanade Tranquille at the corner of Sainte- Catherine and Clark streets downtown will present many free shows including Afro Drag starring drag artists of Black, African and Caribbean descent (August 1), and FeminiX, an evening dedicated to women of sexual and gender diversity, will feature Montréal’s legendary DJ Misstress Barbara (August 4). In the Village, the Des gags et des paillettes queer-comedy show hosted by hilarious drag star Mona de Grenoble features a lineup of local artists including Coco Belliveau, Tranna Wintour and Sam Cyr, at Le National Theatre on August 2. On August 8 on the Olympic Park’s Esplanade, the ImmiX concert kicks things off with entertainers Marjo, Mitsou, Elisapie, Sarahmée and Pierre Kwenders sharing the stage with emerging artists, accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Simon Godin.
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On August 11, the Olympic Park’s Esplanade will transform into the city’s largest open-air dancefloor for the Mega T-Dance featuring local and international DJs such as DJ Mohammad and Kitty Amor.
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