Wellington Pride Festival is the longest-running annual Pride celebration in Aotearoa.
The first Pride celebrations in Te Whanganui-ā-Tara were organised as part of campaigning for Homosexual Law Reform in 1986. Wellington Pride Festival traces back to Newtown Lesbian and Gay Fair, held at Newtown School and themed ‘a Fair for a fair law’.
Now, Wellington Pride Festival is an ever-growing annual Festival celebrating our rainbow whānau in Te Whanganui-ā-Tara. Our largest event, Out in the City, is a fair which attracts thousands from across Aotearoa and beyond.
What started as a day and grew to a weekend is now two full weeks of rainbow events made by and for the LGBTQIA*/MVPFAFF+ community.
The Festival runs each March in Te Whanganui-ā-Tara.
The dates for 2027 are 5-21 March. The Festival is run entirely by volunteers. We hold fundraising events throughout the year to help pay for the Festival, and in order to create more safe queer spaces for us to build community and live our best lives.