Davie Village Pride Festival returning this summer after 6-year hiatus

Street banners in Vancouver's Davie Village neighbourhood are pictured.

A street party in Vancouver’s Davie Village is returning for Pride season this year for the first time since the pandemic.

Revellers will be able to descend on Davie Street immediately following the Pride Parade on Aug. 3. The road will close between Burrard and Jervis streets and fill with DJs, vendors and drag performers.

There will also be crafts and live music in Nelson Park, which was the starting point of Vancouver’s first official Pride Parade in 1981.

Zac Remple, managing director of Vancouver Pride Society, says the city’s queer community is excited to have an official event in the neighbourhood again, which has been a 2SLGBTQ+ gathering place for decades.

“This season is really about a sense of homecoming for folks who hold a lot of meaning to Davie Village,” he told CTV News. “Pride is so, so important and it’s really about that feeling of coming together, being together, celebrating together, and there’s no place to do that better than Davie.”

The festival is a collaboration between the Vancouver Pride Society, the West End BIA and QMUNITY.

Teri Smith, the executive director of the business association, said local merchants are eager for Pride traffic to return to the street.

“Businesses have been hit really hard over these past few years, it feels like layer after layer of things, and so being able to celebrate and have a joyful moment with our community and with our queer community is really important,” she told CTV News.

The Davie Village Pride Festival will run from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 3.