Celebrate Pride in the Twin Cities

2 min read

Home to a wide variety of LGBTQ+ owned and friendly establishments that host events on a weekly basis, the Twin Cities is a welcoming travel destination, offering plenty of Pride festivities not just in June, but year-round – some of our favorites below, include:

Twin Cities Pride Festival (Minneapolis, MN): Highlighting the best in LGBTQ+ entertainment across four stages and 650 vendors, Twin Cities Pride Festival is the country’s largest free pride festival. From June 28th-30th, the festival culminates in the celebrated Pride parade through the streets of downtown Minneapolis.
Flip Phone Events (Minneapolis, MN): Flip Phone Events is a queer-owned business offering a large variety of entertainment experiences. Popping up at different locations around Minneapolis and now with a national presence they host weekly events with themes spanning from Little Shop of Horrors to Usher, often hosted by Real Housewives stars and RuPaul’s Drag Race alums.

Gay 90’s (Minneapolis, MN): Known as the epicenter of gay nightlife in Minneapolis for nearly 50 years, Gay 90’s iconic sign lights up downtown Minneapolis, acting as a beacon of a welcoming and inclusive space for those seeking dancing, drag shows, karaoke, and much more. With a labyrinthian interior featuring many different rooms, bars, and spaces, there is plenty of opportunity to dance the night away.

Additionally, though home to many large businesses, the true charm of the Twin Cities lies within the many boutique shops that offer truly unique LGBTQ items, here are some of our favorites:

Black Garnet Books (Saint Paul, MN): Black Garnet Books is an independent Black-owned, women-owned, and queer-owned bookstore with an online shop, various pop-ups around the Twin Cities, and a brick-and-mortar location in Saint Paul. Offering a thoughtfully curated selection of literature by BIPOC authors, their mission is to create an environment that encourages learning and joyful interaction.
i like you (Minneapolis, MN): A whimsical shop offering a wide range of goods crafted by local vendors, i like you offers a wealth of LGBTQ+ items and spotlights the work of many queer artists in the Twin Cities area all year long.