2025 Philly Pride March and Festival takes over city streets: "I see nothing but love"
Thousands of people came together to fill city streets to show off their pride at the 2025 Philadelphia Pride March and Festival.
"I see nothing but love, it's crazy out here, but we're all having a great time," Daron Summiel said.
"It feels like equality, it feels like it's what life should be," Dennis Cannady said.
The day started with the Pride March up Walnut Street as participants carried a 600-foot rainbow flag.
"It's really emotional to see everyone come together because sometimes we feel so divided," Angelique Kopacz said.
The streets around 11th and Locust then swelled for the Pride Festival featuring food, music, merchandise and more.
David Weisburg is the chief development officer for the a nonprofit serving the LGBTQ+ community. He said showing up now is more important than ever before.
"After so much progress that's been made over so long, it's scary to think that there are rights that are being threatened," Weisberg said.
Gabrielle Caplan-Mayer came to support her son.
"I think, like many parents of trans kids, we want them just to have the acceptance and dignity of any young person, of any human being," she said.
This year's Pride fest is even bigger than ever, expanding all the way down to Walnut Street, and with picture-perfect skies, organizers are expecting this to be a record turnout.
"I think we have over 200 vendors, over 45 food trucks, 6 or 7, 8 stages, I don't even know anymore, there's so many things going on," producer Jeremy Williams said.
For Williams, these crowds prove pride is here to stay in a very big way.
"Everybody just wants us to be proud. We're all here together to be proud, and the community is growing, it's not shrinking," Williams said.
