Calgary Pride Week is back Aug. 26 – Sept. 4. Celebrate with UCalgary!

Calgary’s first Pride festival was held in June 1988, organized by a grassroots collective of Calgary’s LGBTQ2S+ organizations. The city’s first Pride Parade was held in June 1991.

The University of Calgary is a proud partner of Calgary Pride and has sponsored the Calgary Pride Parade and Festival since 2015. It continues to be a major part of Pride Week, which this year runs from Aug. 26 to Sept. 4.

This year’s Pride in the Park Festival will take place at Prince’s Island Park on Sept. 2 and 3; this marks the first time it’s been held at the park since the COVID-19 pandemic. Saturday will be an 18-plus festival day with a Pride Cabaret Soiree, while Sunday is an all-ages festival day culminating in a screening of To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar at the main stage at 9 p.m. Drag is encouraged during the screening!

The festival will also include performances, a marketplace, beer gardens, food trucks, pet-friendly activities, a kids' zone and much more.

Meanwhile, the Calgary Pride Parade will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 3, working its way south down 9th Avenue and ending at Fort Calgary.

This year, UCalgary will have approximately 350 people walking in the parade, as well as 60 more volunteers for parade water stations and the festival sustainability crew. Interested in participating? UCalgary community members are welcome to register to become a parade walker. Register to participate.  

Looking for more ways to celebrate? Check out our lineup for events and activities happening on campus throughout Pride Week.

UCalgary Pride flag-raising ceremony

To kick off Pride Week, UCalgary will host an on-campus Pride flag-raising ceremony on Aug. 25 from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. The ceremony will be held outside of the Rozsa Centre and will include Dr. Malinda Smith, vice-provost (equity, diversity and inclusion). All campus community members are welcome to attend by registering.

Through the Multiverse: Queer Media Today

The UCalgary Alumni Association partners with the Calgary Institute for the Humanities for its 5th Annual LGBTQ2S+ Lecture on Aug. 29. Join Dr. Amy Villarejo, PhD, UCLA Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media professor, for Through the Multiverse: Queer Media Today for a discussion on LGBTQ2S+ narratives in popular culture and an analysis on the kinds of stories that claim our attention and interest. Villarejo will take a look at inspiring examples by gender- and sexually diverse creators, submitting them for our collective scrutiny and enjoyment. The event is free and open to the public. Interested in attending? Visit the registration page.

Pride & Glide

Join us on Sept. 1 from 6-10 p.m. at the Olympic Oval for our third annual Calgary Pride skating event — Pride & Glide. Show your PRIDE and skate on The Fastest (and most Fabulous) Ice in the World on the Olympic Oval’s 400 metre ice. We have very special guest DJ Phenom cranking out the best PRIDE anthems and tunes to celebrate Calgary Pride. Learn more

Admission: $7/ $4.75 (youth & senior)
Skate rental: $7 (includes helmet)
Helmet rental: $2.50

A Queer Map: A Guide to the LGBTQ+ History of Calgary

Through the Calgary Atlas project, A Queer Map: A Guide to the LGBTQ+ History of Calgary covers Calgary’s under-documented LGBTQ2S+ community hubs and sources of resistance. Created by Kevin Allen and Dr. August Clintberg, PhD, and based on research conducted by the Calgary Gay History Project, this map explores the places and faces of Calgary’s LGBTQ2S+ history: its scenes, bars, community, organizations, and the efforts made by activists. Physical copies of the map will be on display at the UCalgary Marketplace booth during the Calgary Pride in the Park Festival.

UCalgary Press-curated titles

UCalgary Press has curated a compelling reading list dedicated to Pride Week. Find it here on the UCalgary Library website and share with all your bookworms!