New ownership, new locations, new lease on life.

Pride Fort Lauderdale, the long-beleaguered organization, has announced the return of the group’s premiere event. The announcement was made on Queer News Tonight.

Earlier this year, Stonewall Pride and Hotspots! Magazine absorbed PFL, incorporating the event under their umbrella.

The event is set for February 14. The festival will move downtown, with the parade expected to go down Second Ave. and empty into the area around Revolution. Area venues include Broward Center, Esplanade Park, Museum of Discovery and Science.

“The location is in the heart of restaurants, nightclubs, and other businesses and organizations that will add events as time goes on for parties and more,” said Al Ferguson, Vice President of Community Development Al for Queer News Tonight.

“This is the biggest single LGBTQ expansion for the city of Fort Lauderdale since the pandemic,” said Jeff Sterling, Stonewall’s CEO. “Utilizing the downtown entertainment district, bars, theaters, attractions and all the community and business partnerships will make this one of America’s signature LGBTQ events.”

The new footprint is a notable departure from A1A along Fort Lauderdale Beach, which Ferguson said is fiscally impossible.

“It’s just not possible,” Ferguson said. “The amount of money to get this festival back up and stable and on its feet needs to be realistic, and the beach is not realistic.”

Pride On the Drive, a nebulous, ad hoc event that brings entertainment to Wilton Drive on the Friday night before PFL, is still scheduled to happen. POTD formed when the previous trustees of PFL cut Pride weekend programming to one night back in 2023.

The previous iteration of Pride Fort Lauderdale never recovered from the pandemic. People inside the current regime say it took several weeks to get a full understanding of PFL’s dire situation.

Unlike June’s Stonewall event in Wilton Manors, Sterling told OutSFL there will likely be a headliner and high profile entertainment.

Sterling says it’s important to bring PFL back to prominence, and that means holding a festival. Planting PFL’s flag on the calendar in mid-February will pay dividends in 2027 and beyond.

“Growth for the future is nearly unlimited,” Sterling said. “Exactly what Fort Lauderdale represents from its large and diverse LGBTQ community.”

Pride Fort Lauderdale 2021. Photo by JR Davis.