WE’RE GETTING STARTED AGAIN!

For over five years, the Northern Virginia Pride Festival provided an amazing opportunity for the largest gathering of LGBTQ+ Northern Virginians and straight Allies to come together united by shared appreciation for diversity an acceptance.

After the 2018 Northern Virginia Pride Festival, NOVA Pride voted unanimously to push pause on the event for a year, focus on NOVA Pride Prom, and pursue a more accessible space closer to the Beltway for the “Sixth Annual Northern Virginia Pride Festival: 2020 Vision.” Looking forward to get out the vote efforts, the increased interest in civic engagement during a Presidential election year, and moving forward with several conversations, we expected our festival in 2020 to be a totally different experience.

Then COVID-19 happened. In Spring 2020, when it became clear that the lockdown would not end the pandemic, and the venue for our 2020 Pride Prom closed (and later went bankrupt), our board voted to cease planning events until it was safe and responsible to do so. Over the course of the past three years, many have moved, and many allowed their terms to expire to focus on mental health or other priorities.

In February of 2023, after it was announced that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency would expire on May 11, 2023, the remaining active board members decided to get things going again.

The timing of the emergency declaration excluded venue availability during the school year, which is a requirement of ours to holdNOVA Pride Prom, to ensure the presence of school staff and student safety, access, and participation.

We’re currently pursuing another festival - however our festival takes a year to produce (without being a very stressful undertaking for our volunteers), so we’re looking at late 2024 or 2025 for the re-emergence of our primary flagship event.

NOVA Pride is, however, to an extent an events management company, having held well over 500 events, including several with many thousands in attendance. We are equipped to make ourselves available to any city, county, company, or retail center looking to host a Pride Festival or Pride-themed event that is truly connected to the local LGBTQ+ community, raises money for an LGBTQ+ nonprofit, and has no profit motives outside those of a publicly accountable , IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) charity.

NOVA Pride has a culture of ego-free, universal stakeholder inclusion. We always reach out to organizations in the region when planning an activity, and intend to find a way to promote, support, and collaborate with all of the town and county events and organizations in the area. To the organizations that have popped up during dark times and pulled off fantastic events - let’s connect and collaborate! There are far more LGBTQ+ people not being served in the region to waste time fighting over the people we already know - and the stakes right now are far too high to not join forces in some way. Please reach out!

Stay tuned!

NOVA PRIDE