Limerick Pride is a week-long annual event in Limerick, Ireland. Although its history dates back to 2001, with the first official pride event, the

Pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture, queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

was not introduced until 2007. The Pride parade took place in September from 2007 until 2013. It was moved to July in 2014 to avoid clashing with the Royal de Luxe event in September that year. The festival was made a week-long event in 2008. The final event of the week, the "Climax Party", is held in Dolan's Warehouse, with performers such as

Leanne Moore Leanne Moore (born 24 July 1984) is the winner of the 2008 series of ''You're a Star'' on Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). Born and raised in Limerick, Moore made it to the final along with fellow contestants Robyn Kavanagh and Deirdre Archibald ...

(2008), Niamh Kavanagh (2010),

Jujubee Jujube (), sometimes jujuba, known by the scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'' and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus ''Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. Description It is a small ...

(2019), and

Courtney Act Shane Gilberto Jenek (born 18 February 1982), better known under the stage name Courtney Act, is an Australian drag queen, singer and television personality. Courtney first came to prominence competing on the Australian Idol (season 1), first s ...

(2002) headlining. In 2008, the Pride parade had its first Grand Marshal, Alternative Miss Ireland winner Sheila Fitspatrick, and her partner Madonna Lucia. Other Grand Marshals have included actor

Myles Breen Myles Breen is an Irish actor, performer, writer and storyteller. Biography Myles Breen was born and raised in Limerick City, Ireland. As a child, he attended speech and drama classes and competed in Féile Luimnigh. He attended University Col ...

(2015), Broden Giambrone (2016), Richard Lynch, Founder of I Love Limerick (2018), Moninne Griffith, Executive Director of BeLonG To (2019),

Sharon Slater Sharon Slater is an Irish historian and author. Her work primarily focuses on the history of Limerick, Ireland using the name Limerick's Life. Following a mentorship from Frank Prendergast she attended the University of Limerick and received an ...

(2022) and Jackie McCarthy-O'Brien (2023). During the lockdown period (2020-2021), virtual pride were provided. The annual "Tea Dance" with actor Myles Breen continued through this medium. Sport plays a strong role in the Limerick Pride event calendar. In 2021, they held an evening discussion, "Trailblazers of Women’s International Sport", with three of Limerick’s athletes Grannie Cross, Sinead Cosgrave and Jackie McCarthy O'Brien hosted by Sporting Pride and GCN. In 2022, a new event was introduced, an inter-county Association football match between Limerick and Clare, to highlight women in sport. Limerick won the inaugural game. Also that year, two rainbow road crossings were installed in Limerick.

History

Limerick Pride expanded its beginnings in 2001 to introduce the week-long festival culminating in a Pride Parade in 2008. Pride was brought into the mainstream in 2008 when Richard Lynch produced the Festival, making it a week-long events under the theme 'I Love Limerick'. The festival theme aimed to make Limerick Pride an inclusive festival for all members of the community. Alternative Miss Ireland Ms. Sheila Fitspatrick and her partner Madonna Lucia were announced as the first Grand Marshals for the Parade down

O’Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections bisected by Henry St ...

and back to Leamy House where Myles Breen hosted the festival's ever-present

Tea Dance __NOTOC__ A tea dance, also called a ''thé dansant'' (French for "dancing tea"), was a dance held in the summer or autumn from 4 to 7 p.m. In the English countryside, a garden party sometimes preceded the dance.''Party-giving on Every Scale ...

. 2008 was also the first year the national 300ft Pride Flag was unveiled and was carried as part of the parade in Limerick.

References

{{reflist

External links

Limerick Pride – official website
LGBT events in Ireland Pride parades in Europe Parades in Ireland Summer events in the Republic of Ireland

History

See also

References

External links