Newark Gay Pride is next month. The 2017 event is called Power in Pride and will be a four-day celebration in various locations in the City of Newark. The celebration starts on Thursday, July 13th with the flag raising at Newark City Hall on Broad Street and will end on Sunday, July 16 with the Gay Pride Parade and Park Festival in Military Park.

Line up for the parade begins at 11:30am at Newark City Hall and travels north on Broad Street to Military Park, where the annual Festival in the Park is held 12-8pm. For those planning to visit check out The Hotel Indigo which will offer discounted rooms for Newark Gay Pride visitors. Please use the group ID: NGP for a discounted rate of $119/per night. Call to confirm the reservations at 877-385-5766.

Newark Pride is a non- profit organization that provide support to LGBT Newark citizens. It all started 12 years ago after the horrific death of Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old teenager who was murdered because of her sexual orientation in downtown Newark. In 2005, Newark Gay Pride held its inaugural week-long Pride celebration. Newark Pride has since continued to evolve with the city’s ever-changing landscape and has grown into a regionally anticipated Gay Pride event.

The organizers are asking the regions LGBT community for continued and expanded support to ensure the success of Newark Gay Pride in 2017 and beyond. The four day celebration of Gay Pride will attract many local businesses and close to 2,500 attendees from the city of Newark and all the surrounding towns say the organizers. The Festival in the Park in 2016 attracted almost 2,000 attendees at just that one event. With 100’s of families, friends, entrepreneurs, businesses, colleges/universities and community leaders in attendance it was a huge success.

The mission of Newark Pride is to grow in 2017 to ensure that the social and cultural needs of LGBT people in the City of Newark, Essex County and other surrounding municipalities continues. Newark Pride organizers seek to create a safer space for the LGBT community; building coalitions and alliances throughout the City of Newark and educating youth about their history as LGBT people.

Find out more: NewarkGayPride.org.