What started as a gay rights rally in 1975, evolved into the San Jose Pride Festival in 1976. The following year, 1977, San Jose Pride added a parade to its celebration and from then on has been marking every year with a celebratory weekend of festivities culminating in a parade through downtown San Jose. In 2014, San Jose Pride changed its name to Silicon Valley Pride to incorporate and bring together neighboring cities and communities around San Jose and to encourage folks from all over to celebrate love in all its forms. Silicon Valley Pride is now the largest LGBTQ+ Pride celebration in the South Bay and invites everyone -- those who identify as LGBTQ+ and allies -- to their yearly family-friendly event.
"Standing for Love and Liberation"
Silicon Valley Pride's 2021 theme is "Standing for love and liberation" and is happy to invite everyone to celebrate in person for their festivities this year! The celebration will kick-off with an evening festival Saturday, August 28, at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, featuring two stages offering a variety of entertainment from DJs and other live performances. This evening festival will be open from 6:00 - 11:00 PM.
The celebration starts up again the next morning, Sunday August 29, at 10:00 AM with Silicon Valley Pride's Parade. The parade will be along Market Street, starting at Julian Street, and ending at the festival grounds at Plaza de Cesar Chavez. The festival grounds will reopen at 12:00 PM at the end of the parade and is guaranteed to have something for everyone. There will be two stages offering a variety of live performances and music (headliners to be announced soon), a Family Garden, a cocktail lounge, a variety of vendors featuring local businesses and artisans, and an array of food trucks to keep you going all day!
But wait...there's more!
Get out your calendars, because there is more Silicon Valley Pride celebrations planned! Silicon Valley Pride is excited to offer these fun events in the lead-up to the weekend's festival and parade:
- Monday, August 23 - Drag Queen Cooking Showdown
- Tuesday, August 24 - Pride Flag Raising and Rainbow Lighting Ceremony at SJ City Hall
- Wednesday, August 25 - Black and Pink Pride Dance Party
- Thursday, August 26 - Pride in the Penthouse
- Thursday, August 27 - OUT AT THE BALLPARK
Get out and get together with the community and party with Pride! To keep up to date on what Silicon Valley Pride is planning for this year's Pride event, check out their website for more information.
SJPL + Silicon Valley Pride
San Jose Public Library is proud to partner with Silicon Valley Pride and supporting the LGBTQ+ community in San Jose. To celebrate with SV Pride and their families this year, San Jose Public Library's Early Education Department will be uploading some pre-recorded storytimes, including our joyful Over the Rainbow Storytime, to both SJPL's Kids YouTube Channel and Early Education's Facebook page. Earlier this year, we launched our new Wee Read Books to Go and Grow book bags that are available to check out from the library. These bags feature carefully selected titles pertaining to various themes, including LGBTQ+ Voices! Accompanying the books is a resource and tip sheet for parents and caregivers for additional information and how to have conversations around the books you read with your children. These books and bags are appropriate for ages 0-8.
We will also be celebrating in person, too! As in previous years, SJPL staff members will also be marching in Silicon Valley's Pride Parade--look for our banner, our smiling faces, and our Maker[Space]Ship. Following the parade, the Maker[Space]Ship will be parked at the festival and there will be activities, crafts, and, of course, storytimes, too! Stop by our space and say hello -- we would love to see you.
Read with Pride!
While you wait for the party to start, why not check out some of our LGBTQ+ booklists curated by SJPL Librarians! We have intergenerational lists, lists for teens (en español, tambien), lists of romances for adults, fiction and non-fiction for adults, non-fiction for teens, and plenty of titles for kids. Reading is a wonderful way to celebrate Pride!
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