Buffalo Grove Pride Parade, Picnic Set For Sunday

BUFFALO GROVE, IL — Buffalo Grove Pride and the Pinta Pride Project will host the eighth annual family-friendly Buffalo Grove Pride Parade at 11 a.m. Sunday.

The parade will step off at Buffalo Grove Road and Thompson Boulevard, head south on Buffalo Grove Road and turn west onto Deerfield Parkway.

The 2025 parade featured 100 entries, 2,000 participants and a crowd of thousands, according to organizers.

The event is organized by The Pinta Pride Project, a nonprofit aimed at increasing LGBTQ+ awareness in suburban communities. The group was founded by Molly Pinta in 2018, who was a 12-year-old Twin Groves Middle School student when she decided Buffalo Grove should have a parade celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.

With the help of her parents, Pinta formed the organization to keep Pride coming to Buffalo Grove each year and support other young people in bringing similar events to their communities.

Road closures will be in place from 9 a.m. until approximately 1:30 p.m. Sunday, according to organizers.

The Buffalo Grove Park District’s Pride Picnic will follow the parade at Mike Rylko Community Park, 951 McHenry Road, near Spray ‘N Play. The picnic is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The picnic will include live entertainment from Beyond the Blonde, food and drinks for purchase, inflatables, lawn games, face painters and visits with community businesses.

Parking will be available on the south side of Mike Rylko Community Park at the Golf Dome and softball fields, as well as across the street from the Fitness Center at Reiner Park. Overflow parking will be available at Willow Stream Park.

The Fitness Center parking lot is reserved for Fitness Center members only, according to organizers. A limited number of grass parking spots will also be available on-site, weather permitting.

There will be no left turn from southbound McHenry Road/Route 83 into the Fitness Center parking lot. The Deerfield Parkway entrance will be closed to traffic from 8 a.m. until approximately 1 p.m., or whenever the parade ends and pedestrians are cleared from the area.

Pride Month is celebrated each June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City, widely viewed as a turning point in the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, according to the Library of Congress. What began as a day of remembrance and protest has grown into a month of parades, festivals, concerts, workshops and community gatherings across the country.

Other Pride events scheduled around the country this month include Boston Pride for the People on June 6, Philly Pride 365’s “Pride is Power” March & Festival on June 7, the LA Pride Parade on June 14, Capital Pride in Washington, D.C., from June 12-21, Chicago Pride Fest on June 20-21, the Chicago Pride Parade on June 28 and the San Francisco Pride Parade and Celebration on June 27-28.

Latest information and updates about Buffalo Grove Pride are available on the event website.

Are you planning an event this spring or summer? Feature it so nearby readers see it all across Patch — including in roundups like this!