This report has been up to date June 25 with the most recent Pleasure Competition and Parade data.
Since its small, casual beginnings a long time in the past, the annual Pleasure Competition and Parade has been held alongside N.W. thirty ninth avenue.
However, the Oklahoma Metropolis Pleasure Alliance (OKCPA) introduced that the Inaugural Downtown Pleasure Competition & Parade at Scissortail Park will likely be June 25-27, 2023.
The parade will start on West Sheridan at North Shartel and switch south onto Hudson. It is going to proceed south on Hudson and can finish at Scissortail Park.
The Schedule – UPDATED
Right here is the schedule as posted on the okcpridealliance.org:
Transportation and Parking
The Pleasure Competition is just one of many massive occasions occurring in downtown OKC through the weekend of June 25-27. The Metropolis of Oklahoma Metropolis employees have offered the next data on get to and from the pageant and doable parking in case it is advisable drive:
Parking
Go to parkingokc.com for an inventory of EMBARK’s public parking garages throughout the downtown and Bricktown space, together with charges.
There are 1,300 metered on-street parking spaces downtown, the place you need to use one among 175 pay-by-plate meters or the Flowbird mobile parking app. The metered areas are free from 6 p.m. to eight a.m., and all day on weekends and noticed holidays.
Transit and park-and-ride
The OKC Streetcar is free by means of June 27. You may hop on on the nearest platform to you all through the downtown, Bricktown and Midtown areas. Go to okcstreetcar.comto plan your journey and see a route map.
Most EMBARK bus routes converge on the Downtown Transit Heart at 421 NW 4thStreet, the place you may hop on the streetcar or one other bus route, or stroll to locations all through downtown. Go to embarkok.com to plan your journey and see a route map.
The Token Transit app is the simplest means to purchase fares for EMBARK buses and the streetcar. Go to embarkok.com/apps to obtain Token Transit, the EMBARK Join app and others that enable you navigate our transit system.
Biking
A few of Oklahoma Metropolis’s latest and finest biking infrastructure is in or close to downtown, and you can even use the Spokes bike share program.
Go to spokiesokc.com to download the BCycle App, which helps you to find and take a look at a motorcycle. You should use a traditional bike for station-to-station journeys, or a DASH bike to go wherever within the ridership space and finish your trip at a motorcycle rack.
Go to okc.gov/parks to see a map of the OKC Parks trails system.
Among the many bike lanes in or close to downtown is OKC’s first protected bike lane, on Normal Pershing Boulevard and Essential Avenue from Might Avenue (on the Will Rogers Path) to Penn Avenue. It is going to finally prolong to Lee Avenue on the sting of downtown.
Go to okcbike.org for the Oklahoma Bicycle Society’s maps of motorcycle trails, lanes and routes in OKC.
There are 50 new bike racks and 5 new bike restore stations within the downtown space due to a partnership between the Metropolis, the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG) and the Downtown OKC Partnership. Click here for an interactive map.
EMBARK buses and the OKC Streetcar even have spots for bikes on board.
Put up-pandemic return
Reigniting the festivities will doubtless mark a time of deep emotion for many who have discovered nice which means within the pageant and Pleasure Week.
In 2023 all actions had been canceled due to the raging, lethal pandemic. It was a profound letdown after Pleasure Week had grown not solely in numbers of contributors but additionally legitimacy within the lifetime of the metro.
The 12 months earlier than, in 2019, OKC Mayor David Holt was the primary mayor within the metropolis’s historical past to declare Pleasure Week as an official emphasis of the Metropolis of Oklahoma Metropolis. It was additionally the primary time the Mayor had walked within the OKC Pleasure Parade.
It was additionally every week of recent public occasions earlier than parade weekend — largely centered on movie and dialogue — along with the standard non-public events and closed occasions held in prior years.
To be taught extra: Series of firsts for Mayor Holt as OKC Pride Week begins with ceremony
2019 Pleasure Week was additionally a primary for Free Press as we coated the announcement ceremony and many of the public occasions along with the parade which we had coated since our launch in January of 2017.
Historic occasion
“The transfer downtown and particularly to Scissortail Park is a historic step ahead for the town and permits us to rejoice the LGBTQ2S+ on the town’s foremost stage,” says Hannah Royce, OKCPA President.
“The motto of Scissortail Park is that it’s a park for everybody and those that know Oklahoma Metropolis’s LGBTQ2S+ historical past will recall that the town’s unique homosexual bar was in downtown. This transfer for us symbolizes a return to our roots and staking our declare within the coronary heart of the town.”
Park officers have been engaged with OKCPA in making the preparations.
“We warmly welcome the Pleasure Competition to Scissortail Park and are wanting ahead to all of the enjoyable and festivities it’s going to deliver to the Park and downtown,” stated Maureen Heffernan, CEO of Myriad Botanical Gardens and Scissortail Park.
About OKC Pleasure Alliance
The Oklahoma Metropolis Pleasure Alliance is a community-run, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt group devoted to producing the annual #OKCPrideFest and Parade, #OKCPrideWeek, and year-round city-wide LGBTQ2S+ Pleasure occasions that encourage, educate, commemorate and rejoice our metropolis’s various group. Media contact: [email protected]
About Scissortail Park
The city oasis, Scissortail Park, is a 70-acre gathering house within the coronary heart of the town. The aim of the park from the start of conception throughout MAPS3 was to seek out a big and various viewers with a variety of options and panorama varieties. The north 30 acres of the park would be the pageant grounds for the first-ever downtown Pleasure Competition.
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Final Up to date June 25, 2023, 10:53 PM by Brett Dickerson – Editor
The publish New! 2023 Pride Festival and Parade to be held at Scissortail Park in June appeared first on Oklahoma City Free Press.
