Bolton Pride Explained

Bolton Pride
Frequency:Annually
Location:Bolton, Greater Manchester
Country:United Kingdom
Last:24 - 26 May 2024
Website:https://www.pridebolton.co.uk

Bolton Pride is an annual Pride event celebrating LGBTQIA+ life in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, and was first held in 2015.[1] The event includes a parade through the town and live music in the town centre.[2]

History

The first Bolton Pride was founded in 2015 by James Edgington and Liz Pycroft. The creation of the event was partly a reaction to the release of statistics in early 2015 which showed that hate crime against LGBT people in Bolton had increased 135% in the previous year.[3] The aim was to encourage Bolton to become more LGBT friendly and used the slogan "Love Bolton, hate homophobia". Ian McKellen was guest of honour at the first Bolton Pride, which was held in October.[4] [5]

For Bolton Pride's second year a parade was introduced and continued the ‘Love Bolton, hate homophobia’ theme. It took place from 23 to 25 September 2016 and included a candle-lit vigil to commemorate victims of hate crime.[6]

Bolton Pride 2017 was held on the weekend of 30 September and 1 October. It featured a candlelit vigil, an LGBT film night, and live music.[7] The parade featured around 500 people with floats.[8] Bolton Pride 2018 took place on 21–23 September. It consisted of a vigil, stalls in the market and Victoria Square, and a parade themed around The Greatest Showman and finishing in Victoria Square,[9]

Bolton Pride 2019 was held over three days from 20 September to 22 September. The event was organised by volunteers from across Bolton and the surrounding areas. The festival weekend began on Friday 20 September 2019 with a Bolton FM street party in the afternoon with the Town Hall being highlighted in the colours of the rainbow flag in the evening. On Saturday 21 September 2019, there was a parade from Queen’s Park to Victoria Square where there was live entertainment in Victoria Square until early evening with evening events at local venues – The Alma Inn[10] [11] and The Venue.[12] On the final day, Sunday 22 September 2019, there was a Family Fun Day with activities, entertainment, and, stalls from local charities, community groups and businesses in Victoria Square and the Market Place.[13]

The event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It returned in person in August 2022.[14] [15] In spring of 2022 Edgington, one of the co-founders, stepped down and appointed Kevin Wright as the event's new director.[16]

Awards

Each year, Bolton Pride holds the Diversity Awards to recognise work supporting the LGBT community in Bolton.[17] [18]

in 2017, Bolton Pride won the Tell MAMA Award at the

  1. No2H8 Crime Awards
for their role in dealing with hate crime.[19]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Home. Bolton Pride. en-GB. 2019-09-21.
  2. Web site: Bolton Council: equality information (January 2019) . Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council . 2019 . 23 September 2019.
  3. Web site: 23 August 2015 . Organisers speak out over negative reaction to Bolton Pride plans . 23 September 2019 . Bolton News.
  4. Web site: Bolton is the latest town to join LGBT, with pride . Andrew . Anderson . . 15 October 2015 . 23 September 2019.
  5. Web site: Ian McKellen gust of honour at Bolton Pride . . 17 May 2015 . 23 September 2019.
  6. Web site: 90 images from the Bolton Pride weekend 2016 . . 25 September 2016 . 24 September 2019.
  7. Web site: Bolton Pride brings hundreds out to paint town rainbow colours . . Emily . Heward . 30 September 2017 . 23 September 2019.
  8. Web site: 30 September 2017 . Bolton takes Pride in annual festival . 24 September 2019 . ITV News.
  9. Web site: Bolton Pride is back! . Xplode Magazine . 17 September 2018 . Chloe . Bennett . 24 September 2019.
  10. Web site: Bolton Pride 2019. Pilkington . James . . en. 24 September 2019.
  11. Web site: Alma Bolton - Bolton - Pub Facebook. www.facebook.com. 2019-09-21.
  12. Web site: The Venue Bar. The Venue Bar. en-US. 2019-09-21.
  13. Web site: Bolton Pride rolls into town for three days of festivities. The Bolton News. en. 2019-09-21.
  14. Web site: Wilson . Chloe . 13 April 2022 . The dates for this year's Bolton Pride have been revealed . 2023-01-10 . The Bolton News . en.
  15. Web site: Jackson . Jasmine . 6 August 2022 . Bolton Pride lights up the town with parade and entertainment . 2023-01-10 . The Bolton News . en.
  16. Web site: All change at Bolton Pride as it comes back with a 'boom' . 2023-01-10 . The Bolton News . en.
  17. Web site: Bolton Council: equality information (January, 2018) . Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council . 2018 . 23 September 2019.
  18. Web site: Nominations now open for Bolton Pride awards . . 1 August 2016 . Kate . McMullin . 23 September 2019.
  19. Web site: Winners of NO2H8 Crime Awards 2017 . 23 September 2019 . No2H8 Crime Awards.

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