Photos | Rainbow power fills 50th anniversary of Santa Cruz Pride Parade

Colorful umbrellas held by a contingent from Cabrillo College, the Cabrillo Rainbow Council and Gender Sexuality Alliance filled the air over downtown Santa Cruz on Sunday as the 50th Santa Cruz Pride Parade made its way up Pacific Avenue. More than 5,000 people packed the sidewalks for the largest parade in the event’s history.

The area hosted its first Pride Festival in San Lorenzo Park in 1975, which consisted of four days of workshops, dancing, live music and a game of tug of war on both sides of the San Lorenzo River. It was one of several Pride events to emerge in the years following the Stonewall Riots in 1969, where police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York, resulting in a clash between officers and LGBTQ+ patrons, as a way for LGBTQ+ people to affirm that they would be their authentic selves despite society’s attempts to marginalize or discriminate against them. The parade featured various city and county departments, local organizations, businesses and schools, many dressed in rainbow colors or waving Pride flags of all types and sizes.

Past Santa Cruz Pride Parade grand marshals, from left, John Laird (1997 and 2003), Larry Friedman and Tom Ellison (2014), Pat Dellin and Elaine Johnson (2024) and Sandy Stone (2000) are all smiles as they are cheered on during Sunday’s parade. Instead of having just one parade grand marshal, Santa Cruz Pride decided to commemorate its 50th year by inviting back every living previous grand marshal.

Among the organizations participating were Motorcycles & Misfits, a Santa Cruz LGBTQ+ founded and operated motorcycle co-op leads off the Santa Cruz Pride Parade on Sunday. Santa Cruz Community Health inflated a colorful message of love. Also in attendance were Barb Murray and Buddy holding onto a large Pride flag as they made their way up Pacific Avenue with a contingent from the Diversity Center.