Wilton Manors Stonewall Pride Parade and Street Festival (2025)

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This past Saturday, I was back on Wilton Drive as an official photographer for the 25th edition of the Wilton Manors Stonewall Pride Parade and Street Festival. The annual event typically attracts 50,000 spectators and has a direct economic impact of more than $6 million dollars for the City of Wilton Manors. Stonewall Pride celebrates the historic Stonewall Riots which took place on June 28, 1969, in New York City, launching the LGBT+ human rights movement.

Wilton Manors Stonewall Pride Parade and Street Festival

This year’s celebration, presented by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and NBC6.com, kicked off at its usual start time of 3PM and featured six blocks of entertainment, including food, music, and vendor marketplaces. The night wrapped up in flamboyant style with the illuminating Glow Night Parade, which started at 8PM and featured floats, vehicles, and walking groups that lit up the “Second-Gayest City” in the U.S. Pre-sale tickets run $10 and $13 at the door the day of the event.

“Over the years this event has grown from a locally attended parade to an international festival that brings approximately 50,000 people from all over the state, country, and globe together to celebrate Pride,” said Stonewall and WMEG CEO Jeffrey Sterling (*). “We wouldn’t be able to produce an event of this magnitude without the support of our community and sponsors, and I am so thankful for their generosity.”

Merriam-Webster defines the word “gay” as “of, relating to, or characterized by sexual or romantic attraction to people of one’s same sex”. But read further and you’ll also find the word defined as “keenly alive and exuberant: having or inducing high spirits”, “happily excited” and “brilliant in color”. Those supplemental definitions are what makes the Wilton Manors Stonewall Pride Parade and Street Festival one of my favorites to attend and photograph. I mean, you’re not gonna find happier, more exuberant, more colorful or prouder people anywhere else.
Enjoy the photographs…

Street Festival

Glow Night Parade

The Glow Night Parade, the centerpiece of the celebration, kicked off at 8 p.m., lighting up the one-mile segment of State Road 811 named Wilton Drive with music, floats and crowds decked out in rainbow colors…

Post Parade

And the party wasn’t over after the parade, in some places it was just getting started…

Accompanied for the second year in a row by my ladyfriend (and fellow photographer) Serena, as well as my Sony a7RV coupled with only (and mostly) the Sony FE 35mm F1.4 GM lens and the Tamron 17-28 F2.8 lens, we pulled out of Wilton Manors sweaty and pretty much exhausted but buoyed by the warmth, friendliness, and flamboyancy of this community. Happy Pride!