Southern Utah Pride in the Park

A Free, All-Ages Festival at JC Snow Park

Pride in the Park is the flagship event of Pride of Southern Utah, the nonprofit behind the region's LGBTQ+ community organizing, and it has grown into the largest Pride festival in the area. The festival is free, with no ticket required, and it welcomes families, friends, and allies of every age -- one of a short list of free things to do in St. George that doesn't require planning around a fee. It fills JC Snow Park, a 12-acre city park at 275 East 900 South, with a full day of live music, food trucks, and vendor booths.

From Springdale to St. George: How Pride Took Root Here

Organized Pride events in the region date to 2008, when Linda Stay connected with fellow organizer Chris McArdle, who ran the first festival under the name "Southern Utah Pride" in Springdale -- St. George itself would not permit one at the time. That effort lapsed, and the movement didn't take hold locally until 2016, when Stay and a small group of volunteers organized St. George's first Pride Festival. They planned for about 200 people and drew more than 1,000, a turnout that outran every expectation and pointed to real, unmet demand. The organization went dormant through the pandemic, then re-formed in 2022 as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit and held its first festival under that structure at St. George's Town Square. Katie Methe has led the organization as executive director since 2023.

Where the Festival Has Grown

The festival has changed venues as it has grown: St. George's Town Square in 2022, Crosby Confluence Park in 2024, drawing an estimated 1,500 people, and JC Snow Park in 2025, where attendance reached roughly 2,000 -- a record for the event. The 2026 festival stays at JC Snow Park, on the last Saturday of September, the date it has settled into on the local calendar alongside other recurring community gatherings like the George Streetfest downtown.

What the Day Includes

The program centers on a stage with live musical performances running through the afternoon, plus a field of vendor booths -- local businesses, community organizations, and LGBTQ+ advocacy and resource groups set up alongside the food trucks. The daytime festival is built for families moving to St. George with kids as much as for adults; organizers describe it as all-ages by design, distinct from the drag cabaret and other 18-and-up shows Pride of Southern Utah runs separately later in the year. Families rounding out the day with something air-conditioned often pair it with a stop at the St. George Children's Museum.

Parking, Security, and What to Expect at the Gate

JC Snow Park's own lot isn't built for a crowd of thousands, so organizers direct attendees to street parking and neighboring community lots; the on-site lot is reserved for vendor and volunteer passes. The organizers run it as a secured event: their published entry policy puts every attendee through a checkpoint at the gate -- a bag check and a walk through a metal detector -- before entering. Late September afternoons in St. George still run into the upper 80s and low 90s, so plan for sun; a swim beforehand at one of the places to swim around St. George is a common way locals cool off ahead of an outdoor afternoon like this one.

Beyond the One Day: What Pride of Southern Utah Does Year-Round

Pride in the Park is the organization's biggest event, but not its only one. Pride of Southern Utah runs monthly Queer Coffee meetups in St. George and in Cedar City, hosts a drag cabaret and a Pride Prom earlier in the year, partners with Encircle St. George on a book club, and maintains a free resource database that points people to local mental health, medical, legal, and financial help. The festival is the visible day; the rest of the calendar is where the organization does the year-round work.