June has come a long way since President Bill Clinton first declared the month “Gay & Lesbian Pride Month” in 1999. Over two decades later, these 30 days—now more inclusively known as LGBTQ+ Pride Month—are celebrations of self expression and LGBTQ+ rights. But this year, to commemorate the month, planners across North America went beyond the rainbow.
From themed co*cktail classes in Miami alongside queens featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race, to 818 Tequila's three-part campaign, UGG's "Feel Heard" initiative with The Trevor Project, and a “Spectrum Of Experiences”-themed event at The Stonewall Inn in New York City—a National Historic Landmark and site of the 1960 riots that launched the gay rights movement—Pride events were bursting with steal-worthy event inspiration.
Keep scrolling for an inside look at the rainbow-clad affairs, and get inspired to celebrate the freedom to be uniquely yourself year-round.
Chambord’s Dream in Color Event
Chambord Liqueur tapped Miami-based creative marketing agency Secret Sauce to take over the Brickell City Centre (BCC) for a “Dream in Color” event. Every Saturday and Sunday throughout the month of June, all members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community were welcomed onto the BCC’s Garden Deck for a free co*cktail-making class—dubbed “Queen in the Garden"—in a show-like atmosphere.
BCC’s Dream in Color programming also included complimentary fitness workshops, stretching, and yoga for kids—because the LGBTQ+ community and its allies come in all shapes, sizes, and ages.
Photo: The Louis Collection
Queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race hosted the class, including Jiggle Caliente, Dusty Ray Bottoms, Ginger Kimj, Derrick Bary, and Nebraska.
Miami-based Unfiltered Hospitality managed bar operations and Secret Sauce designed the colorful barback. Katya Bravo, the founder of Secret Sauce, told BizBash that overall, the event generated an “overwhelming sense of community, support, and celebration,” and noted this feeling as the greatest success of the event.
Photo: The Louis Collection
More than 1,200 guests participated in the Pride-themed co*cktail classes throughout the month of June. At each class, guests were welcomed with table placemats featuring Chambord’s signature pastel rainbow tone, plus colorful dried florals decorating the tabletops.
“From start to finish, guests were completely building their own co*cktails, from measuring in their jigger to pouring and garnishing,” Bravo said. “It was a total hands-on experience.”
Photo: The Louis Collection
Chambord said “Cheers to all things queer” with an edible glitter-infused co*cktail recipe, aka electric dust. The recipe also featured Chambord (of course), Fords Gin, pineapple juice, lemon, and lavender syrup.
Photo: The Louis Collection
818 Tequila’s Branded Mini Moke, Ferry, and Island
Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila brand made its spirited debut at New York City's Pride Parade on June 26. A branded Mini Moke—a retro-style truck in 818’s signature green—was stocked with limited-edition Pride merchandise.
Photo: Sophie Sahara
The 818-wrapped, electric Mini Moke concluded its drive through the parade at Common Ground Bar, where the tequila brand hosted an after-party. Naturally, themed co*cktails were served and included the “Pride Tai,” a refreshing blend of 818 reposado and blanco with aged rhum, lime juice, triple sec, orgeat, demerara syrup, and falernum.
Photo: Sophie Sahara
Jenner’s brand took Pride celebrations from land to sea, branding an NYC Waterway ferry that’s been running from Manhattan to Governors Island since June 20. Throughout the city’s official Pride weekend, a total of 5,000 riders on board enjoyed a drag show featuring New York-based queens Ginger von Snap and Octavia Anyae.
Good news: the 818-clad ferry will continue running through July.
Photo: Sophie Sahara
As drag queens danced on tables, fans sipped on “Kenny’s Favorite Marg,” a co*cktail of reposado, orange liqueur, lime juice, and agave in a tajin-salt-rimmed glass.
Photo: Sophie Sahara
Premiere LGBTQIA+ Pride Island returned to NYC June 25-26 on Governors Island, and 818 Tequila kept the Pride celebrations going with a branded booth. Festivalgoers who visited the post were served 818’s “Berry Mint Kenny” co*cktail. Experiential agency Revolution Marketing was behind all of the brand’s Pride activations.
And to keep LGBTQ+ celebrations going, 818 Tequila accompanied its month-long activations with a $50,000 donation to The Venture Out Project, and queer- and trans-led community that inspires inclusion with backpacking and wilderness trips, as well as workshops and more.
Photo: Sophie Sahara
“A Spectrum of Experiences” at The Stonewall Inn
In early June, Peaco*ck welcomed New Yorkers to The Stonewall Inn to celebrate the streaming service’s introduction of the fan-favorite series Queer As Folk, which debuted on June 9. Dubbed “A Spectrum of Experiences,” event production agency BMF let the venue speak for itself, playing into The Stonewall Inn’s history as the site of the 1960 riots that launched the gay rights movement. The 53-year-old watering hole was decorated with Pride flags and welcomed guests through the bar’s entrance with a disco ball-, feather-, and floral-filled rainbow archway.
Photo: Courtesy of BMF
BMF transformed The Stonewall Inn’s second-floor bar into a neon-clad performance venue, complete with a stage and dazzling disco ball where drag queens performed nightly June 9-11. An exclusive line of co-branded Queer As Folk and The Stonewall Inn merch was being sold on-site, and Armand Fields, who plays “Bussey” (pictured) on Queer As Folk, took to the streets outside of the historic destination on Friday night for a drag performance.
Photo: Courtesy of BMF
Sotheby’s Forms of Intimacy: A Celebration of Pride, Presented by Equinox
On June 21, Sotheby’s auction house teamed up with global luxury fitness and lifestyle brand Equinox to launch Forms of Intimacy: A Celebration of Pride, an exhibit and online auction designed to make art and luxury more inclusive, sustainable, and collaborative with images of contrasting LGBTQIA+ points of view. Five hundred guests attended the evening, which took place at Sotheby’s Gallery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The guest list included Equinox members, supporters of the Felix Organization—a collective that provides opportunities for children in the foster care system—plus patrons of the arts, featured artists, influencers, and press.
Photo: Courtesy of Equinox
More than 20 photographs were featured from LGBTQIA+ artists, including Steven Klein, Willy Vanderperre, Laurence Philomène, Emmie America, and Cherry Au Hon I. An Equinox spokesperson said that the exhibit “is an exploration of the many ways of expressing queer intimacy, as well as celebrating those who are pushing the boundaries and pre-conceptions which still surround LGBTQIA+ lives.”
Forms of Intimacy: A Celebration of Pride “will bring visibility and esteem to queer people across the spectrum of sexuality and gender through brave, vulnerable, and—above all—intimate gestures and will highlight and celebrate disparate LGBTQIA+ points of view through the medium of photography and art,” they added.
Photo: Courtesy of Equinox
UGG’s Feel Heard Pride Campaign
UGG kicked off Pride early and debuted its “Feel Heard” spring/summer 2022 Pride campaign in May to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Month. Created in partnership with The Trevor Project—the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for queer youth—the campaign was brought to life in UGG’s new flagship site on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Brooklyn-based creative firm Pink Sparrow oversaw fabrication and design, which was anchored by an on-site telephone booth with “Feel Heard” in the fluffy material UGG’s signature sandals are known for. The interactive space also underscored the importance of The Trevor Project as a 24/7 crisis counseling lifeline. Guests were also encouraged to write notes on a Post-It and stick it inside the telephone booth’s walls.
Photo: Courtesy of Pink Sparrow
Pink Sparrow’s creations for UGG were replicated in more than 20 of the Southern California-based brand’s stores across the United States. When it came to the “Feel Heard” campaign and coinciding partnership and collection, Lindsey Dicola Dashoff, the senior director of global brand communications and PR at UGG said in a press release that the brand “wanted to think beyond traditional retail while destigmatizing mental health and raising queer voices.”
Photo: Courtesy of Pink Sparrow
Anthony Santiago, the managing director at Pink Sparrow, explained that he and his agency “worked with UGG to ensure that everything we designed and built linked back to the theme of feeling heard.” Take this rainbow-colored telephone backdrop, for example, where dozens of phones hung from spiraled cords.
Photo: Courtesy of Pink Sparrow
Filteroff’s Speed Dating Event
On June 23, Filteroff held an online speed dating event for people in the New York area to establish face-to-face connections ahead of the city’s Pride Parade that took place three days later. Each of the 70 participants went on 10 video speed dates, each for three minutes. After, users would decide to match or pass. “If you both like one another, you can then message or hop back on another video call,” Zach Schleien, the co-founder and CEO of Filteroff told BizBash. He added of the inclusive app: “There are now more than 100 identities a person can choose from to personalize their account and find their special someone. We want all people to find their person and provide an inclusive experience for the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Photo: Courtesy of Filteroff
OGX Beauty’s “Love is in the House” Activation
At the Governors Ball Music Festival, which took place June 10-12 in New York City, haircare brand OGX Beauty tapped locally based creative agency MKG for a playfully nostalgic activation dubbed “Love is in the House.”
Designed to encourage attendees to celebrate themselves and love their hair, the whimsical, Y2K-inspired design featured a brightly colored house and yard area with lounges and Instagram-worthy photo ops.
Photo: Courtesy of OGX Beauty
Inside, on-site professional stylists were giving attendees hair styles reminiscent of the ‘90s and early 2000s (think: crimping and butterfly clips). The salon itself was bursting with color and design, from a black-and-white-checkered floor to a collage-style mural featuring OGX’s products, an “XOXO” wallpaper design, and more.
Photo: Courtesy of OGX Beauty
And because a three-day celebration of Pride wasn’t enough, OGX and MKG also designed a mural in New York City’s NoHo neighborhood in partnership with Black, nonbinary artist Ggggrimes. The artwork nodded to the diversity of OGX fans, as well as the haircare brand’s commitment to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, and featured the haircare brand’s products.
Photo: Courtesy of OGX Beauty
On select days, passersby who scanned the QR code incorporated into the mural and filled out OGX’s hair quiz received a free treat from the branded ice cream cart courtesy of Milk & Cream, a cereal ice cream bar in NYC. And on June 26 during the city’s Pride Parade, OGX also hosted on-site styling stations.
Photo: Courtesy of OGX Beauty
The DiscOasis Hosted by Andy Cohen
On June 24, The DiscOasis threw a dazzling roller disco party in honor of Pride. Located at the Wollman Rink in NYC's Central Park, the celebration was DJ’d by Violet Chachki and Gottmik, stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“The event allowed the DiscOasis team to truly capture the inclusive spirit of disco and bring together guests of all identities for a joyful event in the midst of difficult times,” Thao Nguyen, the executive producer of The DiscOasis and CEO of Constellation Immersive, and Annie McGrath, the vice president of production and development at Constellation Immersive, told BizBash.
Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images
More than 600 people attended the event, which featured a 17,000-square-foot roller rink, a disco-inspired floral installation, and a live performance by a 16-person cast of skaters.
Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images
Famed TV talk show host Andy Cohen hosted the event. Production and creation was spearheaded by Los Angeles-based experiential design company Constellation Immersive.
Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images
House of Yes’ #nateTrueColors Pride Party
Brooklyn’s cabaret, circus, and theater venue House of Yes debuted its private event space with its first public event, the #nateTrueColors Pride Party, on June 24. Consumer payments business nate—which allows users to create a unified shopping wallet without compromising their data—hosted more than 150 creators at the invite-only event, welcoming them with a rainbow carpet. To further spotlight the LGBTQIA+ business, there were drag performances by Juniper Juicy and Vylette Tendency, plus gift bags filled with products from partnering, LGBTQIA+-owned brands.
Photo: Courtesy of BFA
The tech company’s founder, Albert Saniger (pictured), took a moment to speak on what Pride means to him as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. Daphne Ciccarelle, an experiential brand marketing associate at nate, said the celebration inspired a “sense of community from the moment [guests] walked into the building.”
As far as decor, Ciccarelle said that “along with nate’s Pride campaign branding, rainbows were apparent throughout the space,” as well as “feather boas, colorful beats, and an endless supply of nate-branded condoms.” Soundhouse Rentals handled lighting, the playfully branded decor was courtesy of Club Colors, and DJ Lauren Kleiman spun tracks.
Photo: Courtesy of BFA
BABE Wine Queens of Pop! Drag Show
Times Square co*cktail bar, pub, and live music venue Haswell Green’s hosted the BABE Wine Pride Drag Show on Jun 20. Detox (center), a fixture on season five of RuPaul’s Drag Race, hosted the drag show, which was themed “Queens of Pop!” Xunami Muse, Baejing, Nick Gaga, and Jacklynn Hyde (L-R) also performed.
Photo: Alex Ashman
More than 200 people attended the event, which was free and open to anyone that RSVP'd via BABE Wine’s website. Upon arrival, guests were greeted by a branded step-and-repeat, and the venue boasted buckets of BABE Wine at each table to encourage people to try the brand’s variety of wines, including white, red, and rosé.
The event’s greatest success? According to Justin Alvis, occasion manager for Beyond Beer Launchpad, Anheuser-Busch, it “was seeing a packed room of drag fans singing and dancing along with the queens with their BABE Wine in hand!”
Photo: Alex Ashman
