Weston Super Mare To Host UKPride In 2021
The UK Pride Organisers Network (UKPON) has selected Weston-Super-Mare to host UKPride in 2021.
Hosting UKPride shines a beacon on a Pride and makes it a focal point for the Pride movement in the UK in that year, enhancing their position regionally, nationally and in the global Pride movement. It’s a similar model to EuroPride and WorldPride, and Canada has also followed suit.
The UK has more than 150 Pride events ranging from small community events for a few hundred people, to large festival-style Prides and major public events attracting hundreds of thousands. All the Members of the UK Pride Organisers Network are able to vote on which Pride is awarded ‘UKPride’ status each year.
The first UKPride was Pride in Hull in 2017, which coincided with Hull’s status as UK City of Culture. Pride in Hull saw a five-fold increase in their visitor numbers, and really set the bar high for future UKPride events.
The second UKPride was Isle of Wight in 2018, their second ever Pride but firmly putting Isle of Wight on the map as an incredibly inclusive, welcoming place to live and visit in the UK. An event that Isle of Wight should be extremely proud of reportedly bringing in a significant revenue to the tourism of the local area.
Stephen Ireland, director of communications at UKPON told SomersetLive : “Weston-Super-Mare will play host to the official UK Pride events which aim to stand in solidarity with the rest of the world representing everything that is amazing across the UK in terms of diversity and inclusion. Weston-super-Mare will work hard learning from previous UK Pride events and of course the Pride network.”