San Jose celebrates Silicon Valley Pride with weekend festivities
SAN JOSE -- Silicon Valley Pride drew thousands of rainbow-clad revelers to the South Bay Saturday amid a full weekend of festivities and entertainment.
Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose was buzzing with activity as festival attendees cheered on performers, including drag queens and dancers on two different stages. The theme of this year's festival is "Proudly Authentic."
People came dressed in their best rainbow outfits to reflect that.
Phoenix Carlson was visiting from Canada.
"Pride means that people can be whoever they want and other people better support it, because you cannot change us," she said.
"I can honestly say I'm really happy to see the community come together and just to continue on, even though the pandemic hit us so hard," said San Jose resident Wolfie Elliot.
The festival gave local vendors a chance to bring in more business at a time when the downtown area is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It actually has been nonstop busy. We finally got a break in the moment," said Piercing Fairies owner Leann Corpuz.
A pop-up out of San Francisco, Piercing Fairies appreciated the increased foot traffic.
"Everyone is here, love is love, it's a little bit different, I've done a lot of different pop-ups and this just really brings everybody together," she said.
"We've all had a really rough couple of years, so it's nice to just be with your community and be who you are," said Katie Christie of San Jose.
Silicon Valley Pride weekend wraps on Sunday with a parade and day-long festival. More information can be found at the Silicon Valley Pride website.