Long Beach Pride festival canceled amid finger-pointing over permits. Parade still on

The Long Beach Pride festival scheduled for this weekend was abruptly canceled Friday afternoon, with organizers and the city of Long Beach trading blame.

Pride, a local nonprofit organization, has run the festival for decades. This year, however, organizers didn’t provide “sufficient information to safely permit the event,” the city said in a statement late Friday.

In her own statement, Pride president Tonya Martin emphasized that the organization is volunteer-run and said, “At a time when our community is being targeted and made vulnerable, Long Beach should be doing more to protect and uplift us, not taking away one of the most visible and meaningful expressions of inclusion our city has.”

Until Friday, the event seemed to be proceeding as scheduled, with two-day tickets selling for $75. But in the background, the city says, Pride hadn’t submitted critical paperwork needed for safety inspections of the stage, electrical systems and emergency exit plans.

In an email to Pride this week reviewed by the Long Beach Post, a city official said this information had been requested “multiple times over the past several months and again recently.” Plans that were submitted were inadequate, the email said.

Long Beach spokesperson Laath Martin said city staff made the final decision not to permit the event on Thursday but left open “the possibility of a shortened event this weekend” if Pride could submit the needed documents. It never did, he said.

The free Pride parade on Sunday is still scheduled to happen. The nonprofit used to also organize the parade, but the city took it over in recent years — contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep it running — after Pride asked for help. Pride also reportedly had trouble selling tickets to the festival this year, further contributing to financial problems.

The festival also struggled with vendors in addition to the permitting process, said City Council member Cindy Allen.

“I join our community members who feel deeply disappointed about this situation. I support the queer community and want to see this festival thrive,” she said.

Pride said it was “deeply disappointed by the city’s decision to cancel” the festival. Concerts and events were scheduled from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with the earliest events kicking off Friday evening, right around the same time the cancellation was announced.

Pride called on city officials, including Allena and Mayor Rex Richardson, to reverse course or intervene.

The cancellation, the organization said, “undermines decades of volunteer work and community trust. And it weakens the very values Long Beach claims to champion.”

The parade is scheduled to begin Sunday at 10 a.m. on Ocean Boulevard at Lindero Avenue. The city said it is also highlighting alternative events still happening throughout the weekend.