Long Island Pride Festival Returns To Long Beach This Weekend

This weekend, Pride on the Beach, the annual Long Island Pride festival, will be returning to Long Beach.

Running from June 8 through 10, the weekend will be filled with tons of fun events, including a parade, boat parade, 5K race and more.

Long Island Pride has been holding a parade and festival every year for 27 years. But the organization said that last year's event, the first held in Long Beach, was the biggest ever, with more than 30,000 people attending. People from across the country, and even some visitors from Canada, came to join in the celebration.

The parade, part of the Pride on the Beach celebration by the LGBT Network, will cap off the weekend-long celebration. It's set for June 10 from noon to 2 p.m., and will march down Broadway from Laurelton Boulevard east to Long Beach Boulevard.

At the front of the parade will be 30 students and teachers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The day will also pay tribute to the 17 people who were murdered in the school.

The Pride Parade is just part of the huge Pride on the Beach celebration. The weekend also includes a pet parade, a boat parade, a 5K, a concert on the beach and much more.

To help alleviate traffic, the Long Island Rail Road will be running special trains all day on June 10. You can find the full schedule on the MTA website.

For those who wish to drive, special event parking will be available on June 10 at the Malibu Beach Club, located at 1500 Lido Blvd. in Lido Beach, and at the Knickerson Beach Club, at 880 Lido Blvd. Shuttle service will run from those locations to Long Beach from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

For the most up-to-date information on events and schedules, visit the Pride on the Beach website.

Photo: Courtesy LGBT Network