Why Pride Matters

Pride is more than a festival, a parade, or a month on the calendar. Pride is a public celebration of LGBTQIA+ life, love, survival, creativity, family, and freedom. It is also an act of remembrance.

Modern Pride traces its roots to the resistance of LGBTQIA+ people who refused to stay silent in the face of police harassment, discrimination, violence, medical stigma, and social rejection. The 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City is often named as a major turning point, but Pride history did not begin or end there. Across the country, queer and trans people, especially those pushed furthest to the margins, built movements, cared for one another, challenged unjust laws, created safer spaces, and demanded the right to live openly.

Celebrating Pride means honoring joy, but it also means remembering the people who fought, marched, organized, grieved, loved, and survived before us. Our history can be lost when it is not taught, written down, protected, and passed forward. That makes every story, photograph, flyer, program, protest sign, interview, and memory part of something larger.

We are responsible for learning, preserving, and documenting our history because silence has never protected us. Memory is community care. History is resistance. Pride reminds us that we were here, we are here, and the next generation deserves to know how hard people fought to make that possible.

Updated: May 18, 2026

Details can change, especially entertainment schedules, ticketing, and weather-related updates. Please check the organizer’s page before attending.

Thursday, June 4

Free Screening of RENT

Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Figge Art Museum, 225 W. 2nd Street, Davenport, Iowa
Host/Organizer: The Project of the Quad Cities / Figge Art Museum
Why go: A meaningful Pride Month kickoff centered on art, chosen family, queer history, grief, survival, HIV/AIDS memory, and community.

Friday, June 5

Quad Cities Pride Festival

Time: 5:00–11:00 p.m.
Location: Schwiebert Riverfront Park, Rock Island, Illinois
Admission: Day pass: $10; weekend pass: $15; all-access pass: $20
Why go: The main Quad Cities Pride Festival begins Friday evening with vendors, entertainment, community gathering, and Pride celebration along the riverfront. The full entertainment schedule was still listed as pending.

Saturday, June 6

QC Unity Pride Parade

Time: 11:00 a.m.
Route: Downtown Davenport, Iowa, to Rock Island, Illinois
Why go: This bi-state parade crosses the Mississippi River and brings together the Iowa and Illinois sides of the Quad Cities in one public celebration of LGBTQIA+ visibility and community.

Quad Cities Pride Festival

Time: 12:00–11:00 p.m.
Location: Schwiebert Riverfront Park, Rock Island, Illinois
Admission: Day pass: $10; weekend pass: $15; all-access pass: $20
Why go: Saturday continues the official two-day festival with live entertainment, vendors, community groups, and local Pride programming. The official festival page notes that the detailed schedule is still to be announced.

Sunday, June 14

The Wizard of Oz Screening

Time: 3:00 p.m.
Location: Putnam Museum, 1717 W. 12th Street, Davenport, Iowa
Host/Organizer: The Project of the Quad Cities
Why go: A classic film screening with deep cultural ties to queer community, friendship, imagination, and chosen belonging.

Thursday, June 18

Pride Night with the Quad Cities River Bandits

Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Modern Woodmen Park, 209 S. Gaines Street, Davenport, Iowa
Host/Organizer: The Project of the Quad Cities / Quad Cities River Bandits
Why go: A community Pride night at the ballpark, bringing Pride Month into one of the Quad Cities’ most visible public gathering spaces.

Thursday, June 25

Clock, Inc. 2026 Art Auction

Time: 4:00–8:00 p.m.
Location: Figge Museum, Davenport, Iowa
Host/Organizer: Clock, Inc.
Why go: Clock, Inc.’s third annual Art Auction supports local LGBTQ+ care and community services, with proceeds going back into the organization’s work.

Saturday, June 27

Pride 5K: Walk, Run, & Roll

Time: 8:00 a.m.
Location: Bass Street Landing, 1601 River Drive #306, Moline, Illinois
Host/Organizer: The Project of the Quad Cities
Why go: A morning Pride event for walkers, runners, rollers, families, friends, and supporters who want a movement-based community event before the evening party.

Pride Party at Bass Street Landing

Time: 3:00–11:00 p.m.
Location: Bass Street Landing, 1601 River Drive #306, Moline, Illinois
Admission: Free
Host/Organizer: The Project of the Quad Cities
Why go: The sixth annual Pride Party at Bass Street Landing includes vendor tables, free activities, music from DJ TJ beginning at 3:00 p.m., drag performances from 6:00–10:00 p.m., and food trucks.

Friday, September 18

Putts Fore Pride Golf Tournament

Time: 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
Location: Glynns Creek Golf Course, 19251 290th Street, Long Grove, Iowa
Host/Organizer: The Project of the Quad Cities
Why go: A Pride-supporting golf fundraiser that extends the community calendar beyond June and supports The Project’s work.

Saturday, September 19

QC Icon 2026

Time: 7:00–10:00 p.m.
Location: Common Chord / Redstone Room, 129 N. Main Street, Davenport, Iowa
Host/Organizer: Clock, Inc.
Why go: A community talent and fundraising event supporting Clock, Inc. and its LGBTQ+ programming.