10/01/2025
We are so sad that Pride Fest 2025 is cancelled this coming Saturday. Our heart goes out to the Knox Pride board, organizers, and volunteers who have worked so hard on this celebration.
Transcript: Hi everyone, It's John Camp with Knox Pride. I'm coming to you this morning with some not great news. I'm sure some of you have already heard some rumblings about Pride Fest 2025 and the parade and unfortunately with a heavy heard, we have to let you know that that is true. Pride Fest 2025 and the parade have been cancelled we have worked closely with the city to keep this from happening and they have been wonderful partners with us. but we were unable to secure liability insurance for the festival and parade at the last minute. I know that this is disheartening, disappointing and upsetting for a lot of folks. It's extremely upsetting for us and nothing we wanted to come with to talk to you about today. but we are where we are at the moment and we will work to have a solution for 2026 so we don't run into this problem again.
the other thing is safety is a huge concern right now for our community around the country. and a vey real thing her in Knoxville and those two things have been difficult this year especially. so we apologize that we were unable to fulfill our promise to have a Pride Fest for you this year. we hope that you will go to Chattanooga Pride on Sunday and celebrate with them so there is still some celebration. and we will work very hard to not have this issue next year and we apologize for disappointing anyone. we spent most of yesterday calling vendors, performers, sponsors and different agencies throughout the city that work to make Pride Fest happen to let them know and give some time so our vendors didn't spend too much money on product they wouldn't be able to sell this weekend. Now that everyone has been contacted, we wanted to let the general public know as well and our community. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me, john@knoxpride.com and I'm happy to discuss further with you.