Twin Cities Pride Festival
Loring Park, Minneapolis, MN
1976 Twin Cities Pride Poster, 1976. Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection. |
The most significant annual event in Minnesota’s LGBT history began in 1972 as a picnic in Loring Park’s northeast corner. Organized by F.R.E.E. at the University of Minnesota and members of Gay House, the state’s first Pride celebration was a simple social gathering with less than 100 attendees. These young people gathered to celebrate the Stonewall Riots in New York City.
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The event became a true festival around 1990, following the trend of other Pride celebrations. With attendance numbering in the thousands and scores of vendors, the Pride Committee requested vendor applications and began to arrange booths around Loring Lake.
Music venues also expanded and required multiple stages by the mid-90s. The Pride Committee started accepting corporate sponsorship money in the late 1990s to accommodate this exponentially-increasing patronage. As 2000 came and went, attendance numbered more than 100,000 people.(3) |
'The Twin Cities Pride Committee Logo, c.1977. The image is a reference to the once-popular act of pieing (see:the Cathedral of St. Paul) Courtesy of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection.'
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The 2000s were a decade of expansion, outreach, and professional development. Vendors stalls and non-profit booths—numbering in the hundreds—spanned out from the lake along park paths. The Pride Committee expanded events throughout the calendar year and introduced a new “family area” and a space for commitment ceremonies.(4) In its 38th year, Pride expects an attendance of 400,000—more than the population of the City of Minneapolis, making it the third-largest pride event in the nation.
Pride Guides
1975 Pride Guide. Ruth Sherman acts as Grand Marshal of the Twin Cities Pride Parade. Approximately 500 attend.
1977 Pride Guide. The first booths and vendors set up in Loring Park, and the parade changes to Hennepin Avenue.
1982 Pride Guide. The Pride Committee removes "Lesbian" from its title, resulting in a Loring Park "Gay Pride" and a Powderhorn Park "Lesbian Pride."
1986 Pride Guide. The Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) organizes the event after the Pride Committee collapses financially.
1987 Pride Guide. The new Pride Committee hosts the event at Powderhorn Park, and extends the parade route to 2 1/2 miles along 32nd Street.
1989 Pride Guide. The Pride Committee breaks from the G.L.C.A.C. (later OutFront Minnesota) and becomes its own nonprofit group. Five Grand Marshals are selected to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
1990 Pride Guide. The Twin Cities Pride Festival expands to a week-long event, and over 15,000 attend.
1992 Pride Guide. More than 100 vendors set up in Loring Park, the History Pavilion debuts, and 50,000 enjoy the warm weather during Pride Weekend.
1993 Pride Guide. Ashley Rukes coordinates more than 100 entries in the Twin Cities Pride Parade, 75,000 take part in "A Family of Pride"
1994 Pride Guide. The Pride Committee builds a second performance stage in Loring Park, and St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman refuses to sign a proclamation of GLBT Pride Month.
1995 Pride Guide. Despite rainy weather, 100,000 take part in Pride Events. Issues with Lavender Magazine result in a "Guideless Pride."
1996 Pride Guide. District 202 leads the Twin Cities Pride Parade, and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune prints a 100-page Pride Guide. Coporations begin sponsoring the event.
1997 Pride Guide. The Twin Cities Pride Committee decides to move the festival to Nicollet Island while Loring Parkis under reconstruction, and Capital City Pride is established.
1998 Pride Guide. 200,000 attend the festival in a reconstructed Loring Park, despite rumors that the festival was on the verge of financial ruin.
(1) Tretter, Jean-Nickolaus, Interview with the author and Jacob Gentz. January, 2009.
(2) Curnoyer, Nancy "Nan." Interview with the author and Jacob Gentz. February, 2009.
(3) Twin Cities Pride Guides, 1991-1998. From the "Twin Cities Pride Collection." Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection ing GLBT Studies: University of Minnesota Libraries.
(4) Nienaber, William (Bill). Interview with the author and Jacob Gentz. April, 2009.
Part of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: 100 Queer Places in Minnesota History, (1860-1969), (1969-2010)