There won’t be a Tampa Pride parade in 2020. The news comes a month after the party—originally set for March 28—was rescheduled to May 30.
A statement from Tampa Pride says the new date for the parade is March 27, 2021.
“Well, we tried 2 times to have Tampa Pride 2020 but the unpredictability of this darn Covid 19 virus has us all in disarray,” Tampa Pride President, Carrie West, wrote.
A springtime date for the 2020 edition of Tampa Pride was an impossibility, and board members decided against August (too hot), September (hurricanes) and October (pride parades in other cities every weekend).
Tampa's celebration isn't the only local pride party getting a new date.
On Tuesday, St. Pete’s pride celebration—originally set for June 26-28—was also postponed. Officials from the City of St. Petersburg and St. Pete Pride told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that one of the makeup dates requested for St. Pete Pride is September 26.
“I can confirm that is one potential date being considered,” Benjamin Kirby, Communications Director for the City of St. Petersburg wrote in an email to CL. “Will let you know more [information] as we get it.
Read Tampa Pride’s statement below.
Our official announcement from Our Tampa Pride President, Carrie West from this afternoon.
Good afternoon everybody,
Well, we tried 2 times to have Tampa Pride 2020 but the unpredictability of this darn Covid 19 virus has us all in disarray. We want everyone to be safe and stay healthy! In our meeting with officials, spring City events have been cancelled or rescheduled to fall, all for safety concerns.
With all the Pride organizations changing their dates, the TP Board said August is way too hot! September is hurricane time! October has other city Prides every weekend. November has us close to our 2021 Pride event so we decided on March 27, 2021. It will be a big year of Celebration. TAMPA PRIDE ZOO LA kick Off is still set for Nov. 14th.
All paid Vendors, Diversity Parade entries and Sponsors are credited ahead for the March 27, 2021 event. Any Vendor can upgrade to a Sponsorship Level if desired.
Thank You for all the hard committee work you have done in planning, preparing and getting Tampa Pride 2020 events put together throughout the past year. It takes months to plan and each of you have made great creative strides in making TAMPA PRIDE a top notch world renowned celebration.
Again, I want to personally say Thank You and for you to Stay Healthy & Keep Strong looking forward to our Super Tampa Pride 2021 March 27, 2021 events!
My Best,
Carrie
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