Hampshire Pride Parade returns to Northampton in early May

Loud and proud best described the third annual Hampshire Pride parade and celebration in Northampton in 2025.
Republican file photo

NORTHAMPTON — In what has become the largest of Pride festivities in the region, Hampshire Pride’s fourth annual Pride Parade returns Saturday, May 2.

Kicking off at 11 a.m., the parade steps off from Sheldon Field and makes its way down Route 9 and Main Street’s downtown area to disperse at the end of Crafts Avenue, where everyone will gather in the Armory Street Parking Lot for an afternoon festival. To view the parade, the public is directed to line the roads anywhere between Old Ferry Road and Crafts Avenue.

Hampshire Pride Director and Co-Founder Clay Pearson told Reminder Publishing that the event has grown under its new formation since 2023. Pearson explained that Hampshire Pride is the natural successor of Noho Pride, which was known as Northampton Pride before that.

This year’s event is expected to be the biggest celebration yet, with the max total of 130 vendors set to be on site of the festival area at the Armory Street parking lot next to the garage and behind Thornes Marketplace. An event map will be made available to help locate different vendors.

“This year, the big bold change that we’re making is we’ve done some investment, and we’ve provided the tents for all our vendors, so all of our tents are going to be rainbow and trans flag colors,” said Pearson.

At 1 p.m. at the festival site, the Hampshire Pride Resist Rally will begin.

“It’s an LGBTQ+ rally to discuss manageable things that individuals can do to make a positive change for the community, and so we’ll have a bunch of speakers there,” said Pearson.

There will be two stages on site, one with different entertainment and musical performances and the other as a drag exclusive stage featuring about 20 different performers set for the afternoon.

The majority of Pride Month events typically occur in June with the country’s designation of the month to the celebrations, but the Hampshire Pride celebrations take place on the first weekend of May to honor the tradition of Pride celebrations born from the Northampton Gay and Lesbian Activists, or GALA, who began pride marches in the city back in May of 1982. It would be 17 more years until then-President Bill Clinton signed a proclamation to recognize Pride Month every June.

“Northampton Pride, or Hampshire Pride, or Noho Pride, this continuation from the gay and lesbian association, GALA on May 15 1982, it’s a long time coming. It’s over 40 years of celebration, with a brief pause there for a pandemic,” said Pearson. “This long history means we are older than Pride Month. Pride Month did not become official in June until 1999. So, we have kept the tradition of having our Pride in May.”

Pearson added, “It also allows all of these students from the five college networks to have their Pride experience while in school and then get to take those Pride experiences and push them out into their local areas whenever they go back home for the summer.”

To volunteer or learn more about Hampshire Pride and its upcoming parade, visit www.hampshirepridema.com.

“It’s a lot of work. I do a lot of work, but I also have a committee of six people that are helping me out. I couldn’t do it without them,” said Pearson. “I wish I could clone myself and make more but unfortunately that’s not within my capabilities, so it really comes down to relying on the community to step up and volunteer and help out. That’s what the spirit of this is truly about.”