Doncaster Pride Make New Year Announcements As City Becomes Pride Host for 2024

The volunteer team behind Doncaster Pride has announced some exciting plans for 2024, which is also the year that our city has been chosen to host the UK Pride Event itself! 

A brand-new website — unveiled at 12 noon on New Year’s Day — contained a series of announcements, the biggest of which was the move to Doncaster’s Town Field for the main event on Saturday the 10th of August. Following humble beginnings in Doncaster Market Square, the event has outgrown various sites including the stadium grounds at Lakeside and Sir Nigel Gresley Square, and now the anticipated 20,000-day visitors will be located at a specially erected Pride Site in the heart of Town Field.

Other announcements included a third performance space and a seated Cabaret Marquee.

Doncaster Pride is a registered charity and the volunteer team not only plan and deliver the event, but raise the thousands of pounds required to do so on an annual basis. Much of this is through business sponsorship and donations.

Chair of the Pride Team, Jenny Dewsnap, said: “There are around 260 volunteer run pride events like Doncaster in the UK. Every year one is selected to host the national event. It is voted on by other pride organisers, so we feel honoured that our peers selected Doncaster for 2024

"It’s not necessarily about it just being bigger, its about showcasing what we do in Doncaster year in, year out, but with an extra bit of glitter and sparkle!

"We will see more visitors to the event in August, but it is our intention to make the most of the year, that’s whey we’ve started with a series of announcements on January 1st.

"One of our most ambitious plans will see the annual Parade featuring representation from every pride in the UK, including near neighbours like Harworth and Bircotes and Mexborough. Others will travel from up and down the UK to be with us for a celebration of the events we all deliver and a chance to acknowledge the work of the thousands of volunteers who do exactly what we do here in Doncaster.”

The announcements also featured information about Doncaster’s first ever Youth Pride, described as a legacy project linked to UK Pride and the launching of a YouTube Channel that will be used for the whole of 2024 to capture the sights, sounds and flavour of the UK Pride Host City Year that was described as a moment in time piece of social history. Organisers also vowed there is much, much more to come and there will be some incredible announcements as the plans unfold through the year.

Jenny concluded: “Its not only great for Doncaster Pride and the LGBTQ+ community, but it’s also great for Doncaster. The event will bring in masses of visitors to spend locally and to see our great city in a positive light.  But 2024 is so much more than a day in August, there is a much bigger picture where we hope to use the host city title as a catalyst to a year of change, a year where we all consider the wider impacts of equality, diversity, and inclusion.  After all equality isn’t just about the LGBTQ+ community – equality is equality for everyone, no matter what, and it’s that philosophy that sums up Doncaster Pride’s event in August – a place for everyone to just be who they are. Everyone is welcome, everyone is included, everyone can be a part of what will be an enormous year for Doncaster."