‘Raise Your Flag’ at the June 6 Elgin Pride Parade and Festival
On Saturday, June 6, Elgin Pride and the city of Elgin will present the fourth annual Elgin Pride Parade and Festival.
The celebration kicks off at 11 a.m. with a family-friendly parade showcasing Elgin-area businesses, services, and artists. This year’s theme, “Raise Your Flag,” invites participants to show their authentic selves and be vibrantly visible.
“Our mission is to cultivate celebration, education, visibility, and safe spaces, and this year’s theme captures that spirit,” said executive director Sam Raue Hebert. “Raising Your Flag means bringing your full self and sowing the world what makes you unique.”
New this year was a nominating contest to select the parade marshal. The 2026 parade marshal will be Linda the Lunch Lady who will lead the parade units down the new, longer parade route in style, flanked by a royal court featuring talent from Launch of Legends Drag Show.
The parade will step off at its traditional location at Prairie Street and Riverside Drive and then turn onto East Chicago Street. The Chicago Street leg will be extended by one block, turning down South Spring Street (rather than Grove as in past years), ending at Prairie Street.
Immediately after the parade, a free festival in Festival Park will feature LGBTQ+ musicians and performance artists, local vendors offering merchandise and services, and a wide selection of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Sweetie, a Chicago-based lipstick punk band, kicks it off at noon. The Mahira BellyDance collective will shimmy with pride at 1 p.m. The acoustic duo Blanket Fort Assembly will take the stage at 1:45 p.m., followed by karaoke hosted by The Dive Bar favorite KJ Bear at 3 p.m.
The parade and festival will be followed by the official after-party at downtown Elgin’s Martini Room. Other Elgin-area pride celebrations include Mahira BellyDance’s “Shimmy with PRIDE” show, Side Street Studio Arts’ exhibition “Pride 2026 — RISE,” the annual Pride Ride with Elgin Community Bikes, and Chamber Music on the Fox’s “Resonant Voices” at First Congregational Church of Dundee. Details and other Pride events are listed on ElginPride.org.
Each year the parade has been attended by thousands. Volunteers are needed at elginpride.org/volunteer.
About Elgin Pride
Elgin Pride, a registered 501(c)(3), cultivates celebration, education, visibility, and safe spaces to accelerate equity and inclusion for greater Elgin’s queer and marginalized communities. Monthly events include game nights, book clubs, coffee meetups, and more.