Charlotte Pride is busy resetting and regrouping for another great year of programming. That means team-building – literally, building and growing our volunteer teams by recruiting new volunteers. We’re enjoying getting to know more folks as we welcome new faces to the fold.
It may surprise you to hear that the thing we love most about planning the city’s largest annual event in Uptown is that it’s never the same thing twice. Although the Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade weekend is always the third weekend in August (we’ll get to that later) and although we always have a two-day festival with a huge parade on the second day (Sunday), each year is different from the last.
As soon as our team wraps up one festival weekend, we can’t wait to gather again and figure out how to make next year’s celebration even better. It’s free and open to all. We want everyone to enjoy the festival and find something for them, their friends and their family. From the entertainment to the activities, hard-working volunteers and staff are continually contemplating how to improve upon what we’ve created and how we can be more inclusive and accessible.
One of our favorite days of the year is a post-festival volunteer gathering in September. Folks from all of the various festival and parade teams meet up to eat, drink, socialize and reflect. This is a great time to celebrate everything we did right and to share our favorite moments; but also to self-critique and generate new ideas for the coming year’s Charlotte Pride weekend. One thing about Charlotte Pride volunteers and staff is that we have ideas! And opinions! And we are really enthusiastic! There is a healthy exchange of feedback and ideas as we lean into what we want to tweak, get rid of, or add for the next event.
Clearly, what makes Charlotte Pride tick are our dedicated and experienced volunteers. But what also keeps us moving forward are NEW volunteers with new perspectives, suggestions, and talents. We’ve been busy combing through volunteer applications (thank you to all of those who applied!) and interviewing prospective team members. It’s so exciting to meet new LGBT and allied people, and to see where they might fit within our organization and teams.
We’ll get to work in earnest together in January, but we’re already so grateful for the energy and excitement these new volunteers bring. From Operations and Logistics, Flourish, Indoor Arts Activation, Youth and Family, to Entertainment, and VIP — our volunteer team leaders always appreciate additional help– – ! In all, we have about a dozen teams, and – as this time of year reminds us – Charlotte Pride is truly volunteer-driven, and we couldn’t do it without them. We’re excited to make all of our 2025 volunteer teams official soon — and to get to work!
I mentioned earlier one thing that won’t change this year is the timing of the event. You may be wondering why our festival always falls on the third weekend of August. You may be asking, why not June during Pride Month? Why not a cooler month? We’re in the South! Good questions. Besides being the best timing from a logistical perspective – given major sporting event schedules and other large city planning considerations – we are not limited to June because Pride is every day! This gives Pride organizations the freedom to hold their events in many different months. This also gives Pride-goers time to uplift, spread the word about, and attend many different Pride celebrations.
Now that that’s out of the way, if you have ever attended, participated in, were entertained at, or spread the word about our festival or parade (or other events), thank you!
We owe a special thanks to all our volunteers who make it possible for everyone to show up and enjoy free events and entertainment! To our new volunteers, we can’t wait to welcome you to the family!