Mariela Spillari remembers the first year the L.A. Pride Parade went back to Hollywood in 2022.
It was a significant time in the parade’s history because the Christopher Street West festivities were leaving West Hollywood for good, and moving back to the roots of the first 1970 parade . As parade director and producer, Spillari wasn’t sure what kind of crowd they’d get, but thousands of people came. She recalled an emotional moment when a woman marched by with an “amo mi hija trans” sign — “I love my trans daughter.
” “I almost lost it,” said Spillari, who was born in Guatemala. “I’m on a walkie and I just stopped and was like ‘whoa, if this is the kind of impact that this is having, you just can’t put a price on that. You can’t put a value on that’.
” L.A. Pride returns this weekend on June 8 and 9.
The parade is in its 54th year, so we decided to take a look at what goes into keeping the oldest permitted pride parade in the world rolling. This year will be Spillari’s fourth parade. She and her team spend about six months planning, starting in the beginning of the year.
The Christopher Street West Association picks the parade theme (this year it’s Power in Pride). They’ve put on the parade since 1970, and they only have two full-time employees. Contractors are brought in to prepare for June.
As the co-founder of L.A.-based Prima Agency , Spillari and her crew are brought in because of their experience running large-scale events, like the.