Pride Cymru is back in Cardiff for another year this weekend, with a huge parade and a two-day festival returning to the capital. Pride has been a yearly fixture in Cardiff since 1985 and grown in recent years into a full-blown weekend celebrating the LGBTQ+ community - and this year, the main event has been moved from the Civic Centre to Cardiff Castle.
The parade on Saturday, June 17 will start at 11am outside the castle and travel down St Mary Street back up the Hayes, along Queen Street, around Park Place and back towards the castle along Greyfriars Road. The parade is expected to last up to two hours, with the festival then to follow from 12pm at Cardiff Castle, with last entry at 9.30pm. The festival continues at the same times on Sunday.
The parade is free to attend and walk in, but the afternoon and evening's entertainment - featuring some big names in the world of pop, TV and drag - is ticketed. We've got all the information you'll need about ticketing, road closures, and who the biggest headline acts are below.
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The parade's roots are also in protest, at a time where the event's chair Gian Molinu says "we have seen the rights of our trans and non-binary communities attacked". He added: "We hope that by coming together at this year’s Pride, we can show solidarity and support for the marginalised and underrepresented parts of our LGBTQ+ communities...We have been working our socks off this year to make sure that we’re back with an inclusive, safe and joyful event."
Here are all the details ahead of this year's event:
Which roads will be closed in Cardiff this weekend?
Several roads in the city centre will be closed on the day of the parade, June 17. Between 6am and 10.30pm, Castle Street will be shut from its junction with Westgate Street, Duke Street and Kingsway to the junction with North Road.
From 8am until 2.30pm the following roads will be closed:
High Street
St Mary Street
Wood Street
Central Square
Cowbridge Road East to its junction with Cathedral Road
Westgate Street
Quay Street
Guildhall Place
Golate
Park Street
Havelock Street and Scott Road
St Mary's Street
Mill Lane
The Hayes
St. John Street
Queen Street
Park Place
Greyfriars Road (from its junction with Boulevard De Nantes through to Kingsway).
Cardiff Bus confirmed that buses would use alternative bus stops in the city centre during this period.
Who are the Pride Cymru 2023 headline acts?
There are plenty of singers, drag queens and pop culture personalities who will grace the two stages at Pride across the weekend. With both a main stage and smaller community stage on both Saturday and Sunday (see below for details on tickets for each day) some big names will be making an appearance.
On Saturday, Amanda Lovett (the breakout Welsh star of the Traitors) is hosting alongside Rise & Fall's James Allen. None of the acts are officially the 'headliner' but Murder on the Dancefloor singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor is arguably the biggest name on the setlist.
Among others appearing on Saturday are London-based DJ and drag queen Jodie Harsh, Cardiff-based Polly Amorous and producer-songwriter Youngr.
On Sunday, there's a bigger line-up of hosts including Ian 'H' Watkins, Radio Cardiff's Wyburn & Wayne, Stifyn Parri, Arin Smethurst, Chizzy Akudolu and Opal Fruits. Musical guests include The Feeling, the band responsible for 2000s bangers Love It When You Call and Fill My Little World (and whose lead singer wrote the music for Everybody's Talking About Jamie, a musical about a teenager who dreams of becoming a drag queen).
West End performer Marisha Wallace will also be there, alongside Drag Race UK's Ginny Lemon and Steps' Claire Richards. If that wasn't enough, Dolly Parton tribute act the Dolly Parton Experience will be making an appearance.
The community stage, on both days, will include a whole host of local acts. Here's how you can get tickets:
Are Pride Cymru tickets still available and how much do they cost?
Plenty of tickets are still available for both Saturday and Sunday. Individual tickets (for anyone aged over 15) for each day cost £16.80, and accessible tickets cost the same amount. Children aged 5-14 can get in for £5.60 with an accompanying adult, and under-5s get in free.
VIP tickets for Saturday are sold out but at the time of writing there are still some available for Sunday at £50.40 - these include a dedicated viewing area for the main stage, VIP toilets, a dedicated bar, a complimentary drink and priority access to Cardiff Castle.
Anyone who purchases an accessibility ticket doesn't need to buy an extra one for their carer or personal assistant - the Pride Cymru website says the event's accessibility team will be in contact to issue one.
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