Ways to Celebrate Pride Month in San Marcos/Austin

By Autumn McGowan
Web Content Contributor

Happy Pride Month! Things are slowly opening back up after Covid, which means that this month can be the glorious celebration of queerness it was meant to be.

While we are celebrating, let us not forget that this month was chosen to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising of 1969, when fed up drag queens and trans women of color decided to fight for their right to gather, express themselves, and live authentically.

Below are five fun ways to participate in pride in the San Marcos and Austin area.

Proud Voices Audio Festival

The Proud Voices Audio Festival is taking place from June 1st to June 30th. Proud Voices is an Audio Music Festival established in 2020 that takes part in several different cities.

The idea behind the festival is to highlight queer musical artists. For a suggested donation amount, people who want to enjoy the festival can buy tickets and download a pdf virtual map leading them to eight “stops” throughout Austin at queer-owned and queer-friendly small businesses, which include Cheer Up Charlies and Cute Nail Studio. At each stop, a QR code can be scanned to discover a song by a local queer artist!

The Austin Outpost

Anyone living in the Greater Austin area can pick up their choice out of three different Pride flags for free. Flags are available for pick up from 1 p.m.to 3 p.m. at Peace Lutheran Church and Lord of Life Church in Austin on June 19th. If you received a flag last year, you can make a small donation on The Austin Outpost website.

Loud and Proud Pride Fest

Loud and Proud Pride Fest is on Thursday, June 24th from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Ragner’s on The Compound, 6900 Ranch Road 12 San Marcos, Texas.

This event is 18+ with a ten dollar cover charge. It is being hosted by Studio San Martian, Dose of Dance, and Ragner’s on the Compound. It will be a night of live music, DJ sets, and drag acts with two stages, vendors, and activities. Come out and dance all night long!

Queer AF Pride Celebration

Queer AF Pride Celebration is taking place on Saturday, June 26th from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the parking lot of The Little Gay Shop located at 828 Airport Blvd. in Austin.

The event is free and for all ages and will include over twenty shops from local queer artists and vendors as well as a pop-up museum organized by Thee Gay Agenda. The event is outdoors and dog-friendly. Masks are strongly suggested outdoors and required to enter The Little Gay Shop.

The Big Gay River Float

The Big Gay River Float is on July 18th. This event is not happening until July, so technically not during pride month, but it is too fun to not mention. Tickets can be bought online and there are options to either ride a shuttle bus from Austin or take your vehicle.

Tubes, coolers, cooler tubes, and ice will be provided and after the float, buses will drop off tubers at Rain in Austin for the after-party.

There are so many exciting things happening for Pride month. Hope to see you at one of these great events!

Featured Image by Autumn McGowan