Manchester Pride 2026

Manchester Pride takes the August bank holiday weekend and hands the Gay Village over to it. The festival is built from four parts that run alongside each other: the Mardi Gras weekend of live music, the Gay Village Party around Canal Street, the parade through the city, and the candlelit vigil in Sackville Gardens that closes the weekend.

The vigil is the part that sets Manchester apart from most Prides its size. It is held in the gardens beside the canal, in memory of those lost to HIV and AIDS and to anti-queer violence, and it is quiet in a way the rest of the weekend is not.

The Gay Village Party is behind a wristband and the money funds the charity's grants programme, which pays out to LGBTQ+ groups across Greater Manchester. The parade is free to watch and pulls the biggest crowd of the four.