Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride are proud to announce the 36th Annual Long Beach Gay Pride Parade Commentators; Jewels, Cory Allen, LaDawn Best, Mia Farrow, and Missy Vee. The parade will be held on Sunday, May 19h, with a 9:30 am Pre-Parade Show at the Parade Grandstand located on Ocean Blvd between Cherry Avenue and Junipero Avenue. The parade step off is at 10:30 am on Ocean at Lindero Avenue.
This year’s parade announcers consist of LGBTQ++ community superstars! The Parade will begin at step off on Ocean Blvd and Lindero Avenue, at parade central, we have the three wonderful personalities to get everyone fired up for the parade. All three hosts are true advocates that support the LGBTQ+Q Long Beach community. This includes the one and only Jewels, a very talented community superstar who produces and hosts dozens of events, shows, and fundraisers throughout all of Southern California but her heart belongs to Long Beach. Since the beginning, Jewels’ mission has always been to ensure that everyone who visits Long Beach feels welcome, loved, and entertained. When she’s not hosting charity fundraisers (if you’ve never seen Jewels lead a parade of drag queens down Broadway on Easter Sunday to benefit St. Mary’s C.A.R.E. Center, you haven’t really lived) or attending local community events all over Long Beach, you can find Jewels literally every night of the week at either Hamburger Mary’s, The Eagle 562 or The World Famous Falcon. She has hosted Stand Up Comedy shows in Hollywood and Long Beach at the Laugh Factory, as well as countless television appearances. Every Saturday and Sunday morning her “Brunchette” troupe entertains sold-out crowds in several cities, with an exuberant Drag Queen Brunch.
In the grandstand at the parade, central is the community advocate duo, LaDawn Best and Cory Allen LaDawn is the Executive Director at Peer Health Exchange Los Angeles, a national non-profit organization that promotes health equity through a near-peer education model that empowers young people to make healthy decisions. For more than two decades, LaDawn has been invested in an intersectional approach to building healthier communities and believes that the voices of people of color, LGBTQ+Q people, and young people should be centered and uplifted. LaDawn is the previous Board Chair of the LGBTQ+Q Center of Long Beach where she served on the Board of Directors for several years. Currently, LaDawn serves as a Commissioner for the Long Beach Human Relations Commission.
Cory Allen is the Founder/Principal of CA Blueprint Solutions, a full-service LGBTQ+Q focused political consulting and government affairs firm based in Long Beach, CA. Throughout his career, Cory has worked on dozens of local, state and federal campaigns across Los Angeles County and has served in various staff roles to elected officials. In his spare time, he is an active member of the International Imperial Court of Long Beach, the oldest LGBTQ+Q non-profit in Long Beach where he has helped to raise over $200,000 for local charities.
At Ocean Blvd and Alamitos “on the curve”, is Long Beach’s’ is the dynamic duo, Mia Farrow and Missy Vee! Mia is a Long Beach local drag entertainer, philanthropist and Empress 46 of the International Imperial Court of Long Beach. She works tirelessly to raise awareness for people living with disabilities and is a Behavior therapist for Children with disabilities. She is a Long Beach resident and contributes to the community by organizing events as well as volunteering and donating to local organizations. Missy is a hot multi-talented Diva. Missy V Simply V is a Drag Entertainer based in Long Beach! Having worked throughout Southern California with such groups as The DreamGirls Revue and The Brunchettes. She was crowned Miss Gay Pride 2016 and is a part of the Imperial Court of Long Beach!
About the parade…the parade day starts off at 8:00 am with the Shoreline Front Runners Pride Run on Junipero Avenue at Ocean Blvd. The run will be along the beach path. At 9:30 am, join the action at Parade Central, on Ocean Blvd, between Junipero and Cherry. At 10:00 am, enjoy a great show as Cheer LA performs magical stunts. There will be lots of prize giveaways which include FREE Long Beach Gay Pride Festival tickets, tee shirts, and much more! At 10:30 am the parade kicks off! With fabulous entries, it’s a spectacular street show that includes everything from Drag Queens and Kings to Zombies to celebrate LGBTQ+Q Pride. You do not want to miss one of the world’s most visited Gay Pride Parade’s!
This year’s street closures are along Ocean Boulevard and are as follows: 5:00 am from Redondo to Lindero Avenue. At 7:00 am, from Lindero Avenue to Cherry Avenue and at 8:30 am closures from Cherry Avenue to Alamitos Avenue and around the curve to Broadway.
No selling of food, merchandise, nonalcoholic drinks, unless you’re registered as a parade vendor. No alcoholic beverages are allowed on the parade route.
For more information log onto www.longbeachpride.com or call us at (562) 987-9191.