Festival Exhibitor Updates

Last updated January 28, 2025

Festival Layout and Booths

FAQS for Festival Exhibitors

How do people helping with my booth gain entry?

If trying to access the festival ground before the festival opens, there may be limited gates by which you can access the festival grounds. Please listen to security and event staff or volunteers at the gate. Exhibitors will receive information on load-in for Saturday morning. If you are loading in supplies or materials on Sunday morning, in addition to Saturday morning, please let Karianne know. With the parade there are special times for load-in on Sunday.

During festival hours, people that are staffing your booths will need to go through one of the festival gates and security. If lines to gain entry to the festival are long, please have your booth volunteers/staff go to the front of the line and identify themselves and the booth they are working for to gain entry. There is a suggested donation of $10 at the gate, but no one is required to donate to gain entrance to the festival.

There are three entrances to the festival. The Ash Street entrance on the north end of the festival, the Pine Street entrance, and towards the south is the Harvey Milk Street entrance. Please have everyone who will be working/volunteering at the festival read the Portland Pride FAQs. It provides additional information on parking and what can be brought into the festival.

Can we bring our own food and drinks? Can we bring ice?

Yes! You can bring your own snacks, food, and non-alcoholic beverages. Due to OLCC regulations, there are no open beverages allowed to be brought in to the festival grounds. Water bottles and open containers must be emptied before entering the festival grounds, see our Portland Pride FAQs. Please no alcoholic beverages or cannabis edibles, these are regulated by the OLCC and not allowed to be brought into the festival. Ice is allowed in coolers brought in by exhibitors. There are water filling stations located in the festival grounds, but we are not able to provide ice to exhibitors.

What can we do at our booth?

Festival exhibitors are able to sell products and services, accept and collect donations, hand out unopened pre-packaged samples, and offer water for free. Many booths give away swag or plan activities to engage festival goers. There is no cannabis or alcohol permitted at exhibitor booths. For a full list please refer to the Festival Exhibitor Rules and Regulations. All activities must be contained within your 10x1o booth footprints.

Are tables and chairs included?

Each booth receives two chairs. Corner booths received two 8’ tables, and inline booths receive one 8’ table. You are allowed to bring your own tables, chairs, booth setup. If you do not need your tables or chairs please let Karianne or volunteers at the Info Booth know and we can have them removed.

Is my booth covered?

Booths are covered by large canopies. If you have a 10x10 tent/pop up canopy you want to use to hang things from, those may fit under the large canopies.

Can I use a branded tent?

Booths are covered by large canopies. There is no space for exhibitors to setup stand alone tents. Branded tents that are 10x10 or smaller may fit under the larger canopy and allow for hanging of backdrops or banners.

Can we leave our booths unattended during festival hours?

Booths must be staffed and open Saturday, July 20th from 12:00PM - 8:00PM and Sunday, July 21st from 11:30AM - 6:00PM.

Exhibitor Load In Maps and Instructions

Exhibitors Load-In Hours

• Friday, July 18th, 12:00 - 8:00 PM

• Saturday, July 19th, 8:00 - 11:00 AM

• Sunday, July 20th, 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Due to the amount of traffic, Exhibitors are assigned a time for load-in on Saturday morning.

Curbside Load-in Instructions

Curbside Map for Load-In

Sunday Load-In Instructions

This is for exhibitors who need to load out products/supplies, etc overnight between Saturday and Sunday. Sunday Load-In is between 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM with 10:30 AM being the latest folks can bring in supplies, etc. The instructions for curbside drop off are the same as on Saturday. We will not have volunteers available on Sunday morning to assist, we ask that you keep to the 15 minute permitted loading time.

Exhibitor Booth Load-in Information

Load-in for festival exhibitors is on the morning of Saturday, July 19th between 8AM and 11AM along Naito Parkway.

• Exhibitors will be assigned a time to arrive and cross streets, for where to pull up at the curb on Naito Parkway. This helps stagger our 150+ exhibitors who are loading in that morning. You will receive your arrival time and location in late June.

• When you arrive please check in with Pride Northwest personnel.

• DO NOT pull in under the Morrison Bridge. There is NO unloading under the Morrison Bridge.

• 15-min parking is permitted along SW Naito Parkway. You must pull up into the bike lane area and park at the curb on SW Naito Parkway.

• There is no festival parking, please see the FAQs page for more information on parking downtown.

• All directions by Pride Northwest personnel must be followed.

Vehicles parked on SW Naito Pkwy after 11:00AM and/or beyond the permitted 15 minutes are subject to tow. Load in after 11AM must be approved by Pride Northwest.

There is NO load-in allowed after 11:00 am on Saturday, July 19th
If you are late loading in, you will need to get permission before entering the festival. 

The Information Booth is located on the west side of the festival, next to the Battleship Oregon Memorial, if you have any questions upon your arrival please come and see us.

If you plan on loading out on Saturday night and loading in on Sunday morning please email Karianne at khorton@pridenw.org so we be sure to connect with you about load in on Sunday morning, which can be affected by the parade and road closures.

Exhibitor Booth Load-out Information

The festival closes at 8:00 PM on Saturday, July 19th and 6:00 PM on Sunday, July 20th. Below is the step by step process for load out.

1. Festival Gates Close - Festival Attendees are asked to leave through the SW Pine St gate - exhibitors are not cleared to leave at this time

2. OLCC Sweep of festival grounds - Festival staff will conduct an OLCC sweep of the grounds

3. Gates reopen and approval to load out is given by Pride Northwest volunteers and Festival Staff.

This process can take as much as 45-60 minutes following the end of the festival. When scheduling booth coverage please allow for at least an extra hour following the end of the festival for load out on both Saturday and Sunday.

Security

Security is present overnight, but vendors are responsible for securing their belongings. We are not responsible for items left unattended. Pride Northwest works with our security team and the City of Portland and has a robust safety plan in place. In the event there are any safety concerns at or near the festival please alert a security person or a Pride Northwest staff or volunteer. This ensures the information gets to our security team so we can handle any issues if they arise. It is not uncommon for there to be protesters outside the festival, we ask that folks do not engage with them. 

Security is a top priority for Portland Pride. While we are unable to share many specifics about the details of our security plan, we work closely with local law enforcement, emergency response folks, and private security for the event. We also engage local peacekeeping and de-escalation teams to help ensure that direct confrontation with community members is minimized and/or eliminated. Our community is most safe when we are together in large numbers, and work in collaboration to keep each other from harm.