2026 Festival Fundraiser Cancellation: Timeline and Next Steps

The cancellation of the 2026 Long Beach Pride Festival Fundraiser was incredibly difficult for our community and for everyone who worked tirelessly to make the event possible.

Long Beach Pride extends its sincere apologies to our community, vendors, performers, sponsors, volunteers, ticket holders and partners. We are committed to transparency during this difficult moment.

Challenges arose during the permitting process, and we want to share openly how events unfolded. Long Beach Pride remained engaged, continued submitting materials in good faith and worked urgently to resolve issues through the final days. We will continue to review what happened and improve our internal systems, and we want our community to know that we stayed committed to the festival through the very end.

The 2026 celebration was planned for Marina Green Park, beginning with Teen Pride on Friday, May 15, followed by the festival on May 16 and 17. Below is a chronology of the permitting process that led up to that weekend.

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Timeline of Events

September 2025

Long Beach Pride notified the Long Beach Office of Special Events and Filming of the 2026 festival dates and requested guidance on the permitting process.

December 2025

To manage expenses, Long Beach Pride moved forward without a production company and let the Office of Special Events and Filming know that we would need assistance to complete the permit packet.

January 17, 2026

Long Beach Pride submitted its initial permit application to the Office of Special Events and Filming.

March 2026

• March 4: The Office of Special Events and Filming notified Long Beach Pride that a new permitting system had been implemented.
• March 18: Long Beach Pride requested copies of the previously approved 2025 festival permitting documents to help ensure compliance for 2026. We did not receive a response.

May 2026: Final Weeks Before the Event

• May 7: Long Beach Pride met with the Office of Special Events and Filming, the Fire Department, the Police Department, the Marine Advisory Commission and Event Recycling to review the festival layout. A list of required documents was provided, and Long Beach Pride submitted them.
• May 8: The Office of Special Events and Filming scheduled an onsite permit inspection for May 15, which we understood to mean that adequate documentation had been received.
• May 12: Long Beach Pride reduced the festival footprint and sent updated documents to the Office of Special Events and Filming.
• May 13: The Office of Special Events and Filming raised new questions about structural documentation, and Long Beach Pride immediately worked to correct and resubmit materials.
• May 14: The May 15 inspection was canceled the night before it was scheduled. A City official also encouraged Long Beach Pride to continue preparing.
• May 15: Updated structural documents were submitted early in the afternoon. Less than an hour before the scheduled Teen Long Beach Pride load-in, with festival infrastructure already in place, the City of Long Beach issued a cease and desist order.

Alternative Venues

That night, we met with City of Long Beach leadership, who offered to relocate the event to the Terrace Theater. We appreciated the effort to find a solution. After careful consideration, the venue was not feasible for this event: it would have added more than $100,000 in costs and allowed only seated attendance, with no dance area.

The City also proposed Bixby Park. Unfortunately, the Long Beach Pride Board did not have enough time to set up the venue or meet the performing artists’ contractual requirements.

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Moving Forward

Long Beach Pride is working closely with ticketing partners, vendors, sponsors, performers and community partners to resolve the financial and logistical impacts of this cancellation. More updates will be shared soon.

We will request a formal debrief with the City of Long Beach so that, together, we can fully understand what occurred and help prevent similar issues in the future.

Our priority now is to begin early planning for 2027 so that our community never has to experience a disruption like this again. We remain dedicated to our mission and look forward to serving the Long Beach community with renewed energy.

Our 2026 theme, “Fearless and Free,” was chosen as a call to stand together in love and resilience. It still describes the community we are proud to serve, and it is how we intend to move into 2027.

Moving forward, Fearless and Free!

Media inquiries: info@longbeachpride.com