Photography: 57th Annual Pride NYC 6/28/26

Photography: 57th Annual Pride NYC 6/28/26

Sunday, June 28, 2026: Pride NYC: I’ve said this more times than I can count on this platform and all the others I’m on: I love parades. The Coney Island Mermaid Parade, the Village Halloween Parade, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day and Pride all mean different things and evoke different things. 

For me Pride brings certain words to mind: defiant, confrontational, joyous, eclectic, diverse, riotous, inclusive, wild, campy, chaotic, loud, hilarious. It’s both a microcosm of everything New York is and the best party you’ll ever attend: You’ll sing, dance and sweat with some stranger, who’ll be, for that moment at least, your best friend in the entire world. You’ll hug multiple friendly and smiling souls. You’ll come across dogs and the occasional baby. You’ll learn something, too. It’s a delirious, euphoric, infectious joy bomb. 

Walking the length of the parade route, hearing the continual roar of people, the explosive pop of fans being snapped, seeing the blur of smiling, happy faces block after block has been one of the more surreal and fun experiences of my entire life. For a brief moment, you can delude yourself into thinking that these people are cheering for you. I had so much fun, that at 17th Street and 7th Avenue, I turned back, re-entered the parade, walked with the parade back to 8th Street and 6th Avenue and stopped at Washington Square Park. And it was absolutely worth it.

I sincerely mean this: That was one of the most fun afternoons of the entire year to date. Everywhere you looked you saw beautiful, smiling faces from just about every corner of the globe. It’s the New York I grew up in and love with every fiber of my being: The place where every dreamer, every striver, everybody can be themselves, can find their community and can find their home.