We (parents and two teenagers) are planning a two week vacation for next June that includes two days (three nights) in Boston. The dates we have penciled in for Boston are June 14 and 15, which is the second weekend of Pride Week. Saturday the 14th is the parade & festival, and Sunday the 15th is the Stuart Street Block Party. According to the Pride Week website, they expect over 1 million participants.

We plan on walking the Freedom Trail and visiting Quincy Market on the 14th. The agenda for the 15th is still open. What is the best way to avoid the large throngs of participants, or can we? We consider ourselves pretty tolerant of diverse people, but 1 million of any group of people seems pretty overwhelming.

I apologize in advance if I offended anyone with this question.

Downtown Boston is a very compact area. Stuart Street is on the boundary between the Back Bay and South End, but if the festival has activities on Boston Common or City Hall Plaza as they have in the past, then those overlap with the Freedom Trail/Quincy Marketplace area.

By the way, that figure of 1 million is recognized only by the event organizers and apparently includes several imaginary friends.

I have never heard of Boston Pride Week (lived in Boston area x 30 years). I do not know if this is an annual event or one-time thing. So I feel comfortable in saying if it were a city-stopping annual event, I would have heard of it.

Let's talk numbers. There are about 600,000 residents of Boston. It is estimated that the day time commuter numbers raise that to about 1 million on an average work day.

If an additional 1,000,000 people were to come to Boston, that would indeed make it impossible to do anything. I have no idea from where they are getting these number projections. I have no idea where they would all stay.

When the Democratic National Convention came to Boston some years ago, they predicted doom and gloom, companies shut for the week, roads were closed - and the city was essentially a ghost town during the time of the Convention from all the scare tactics. Restaurants even began offering bargain discounts to lure locals back into town.

I am viewing this event and prediction with a great deal of skepticism. If it does materialize to the extent your source predicts, then I would actually be concerned. I just would do a little more research (but I have no idea where) to see if you can get more info.

1 million does seem like an awfully high number. It could be, but I live in Boston and have never seen anything close to that for this event.

I'd proceed with your plans.

Now I stand educated. Did some google searching. There is a website BostonPride.org that gives info on past years events - apparently this has been going on for a while. I also looked at some photos of the parade, rally, etc. While there were clearly some crowds, they did not look overwhelming to the point of altering your visit plans.

The fact that this has been going on for a lot longer than I thought and I have no memory of it being a city-stopper makes me think the numbers of participants will not overcrowd the entire city.

As far as their number estimates - it is a fairly common practice for groups to count each attendee at each event as a participant. For instance, if John Doe attended the parade, the rally, the block party and a workshop - he would be counted as "4". That is the only way, in my opinion, the 1 million figure could be reached.

Gay pride is a big event, but will not likely impact your trip. The parade and festival are probably a bigger concern than the block party. You will likely find things more crowded in th South End (the main gay 'hood), Back Bay generally, and maybe the government center (where the festival is held). I wouldn't fret about it.

Just checked with my husband who works in downtwon area. He does remember Gay Pride activities, but does not recall them as being at all overcrowded during the day. No info about evening.

The festival was held in Government Center this past June because The Common, where it is usually held, was undergoing some sort of rehabilitation in the area they use, so was not available. I believe the plans are for it to be on the Common again next year, but I could be wrong. If it is, the parade will end at the corner of Charles and Beacon Streets, so won't overlap the Freedom Trail. If it's at Government Center, the parade will go down Beacon Street in front of the State House, and a little way down Tremont, so will overlap the Freedom Trail for a short way. The parade and festival both start at noon, so if richbutnot and family get an early start on the Freedom Trail, they should be past that point well before that would impact them. The parade is a lot of fun, and the organizers try to keep it family-friendly, suitable for all ages.

I looked at the Boston Pride website, and I interpret the 1 million number to refer to the number of people who participate in any of the events spread out over the entire week, not just the parade and festival. And a great many of those are residents of Boston and the surrounding urban area, so it's not an extra million people descending on the city. The parade viewers are spread out over a several mile long route, so it's not as overwhelming as it sounds. The crowd is always happy and having fun, and it's a very festive atmosphere.

If you are not driving, it is not likely to have a lot of impact on you. The parade does close streets. You can work your way around the events to the places you mention, and go to Cambridge if the crush is too much, swapping parade day in Boston on the Freedom Trail for the next day. Sights like the JFK library are away from the central city, and you will be able to get to the MFA and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museums with minor difficulty since you are likely to be outbound when everyone else is inbound.

I think you will be fine and would not change my plans. We are in the South End, less than a block from Tremont, and last year there was more activity here and in the streets because of the location adjustments as noted, don't know exactly what the plans are for this year as far as I am not involved in that.

Yes there are some intermittent street closings, etc but we walked and T'd around them as you will - and as someone said, you can plan your activities around it ifyou don't want to go to it, and once you are working on your final schedule and what acdtivities you do and don't want to do -

the number of attending is stretched out over the week which includes activities in other neighborhoods and areas of the city - day and evening events -

that time of year the city is a busy place anyway, with everyone out and about and various smaller neighborhood festivals, etc.

Should you end up in the same area, it is very family friendly - including lots of events and booths for the kids, health fair booths for everyone, music, food, etc -

enjoy our great city !

The only thing Pride Week will directly effect is the blocking off of the streets for the parade. Just make sure that you are North of the parade route and you will be able to see most everything on the Freedom trail. Also, the restaurants may be more crowded, but reservations will take care of that. The parade is actually a hoot.

I LOVE the Pride Parade and am dissappointed when I miss it. What a fun thing to have a weekend scheduled to take in what you like and then walk away. It certainly does not overtake the city. It is a nice addition and not something you should avoid but embrace with your teenagers.

Have a blast wherever you land. It is a wonderful time of year to visit!

Thanks for all your replys. We will plan on being there for Pride week and enjoying ourselves.

Agree with Gpanda that the only inconvenience would be the parade route. My wife hosted some clients from out of town one year during Pride Week, and by coincidence they happened across the parade route while touring the city. Outside of one client being slightly startled to see a man dancing wearing nothing but a smile and a g-string, all went well!

Outside of one client being slightly startled to see a man dancing wearing nothing but a smile and a g-string, all went well!

Well my 15 year old daughter will love that!

she's probably already seen it on MTV

I'm sure this g-string wearing man was not in the parade, must have been a parade watcher. The parade organizers have a very strict policy about no nudity or anything lewd appearing in the parade, and any offenders will be removed from the parade line-up. I've attended the parade several times, and I've never seen anything like that!

"I'm sure this g-string wearing man was not in the parade, must have been a parade watcher."

According to my wife's client, he was dancing on one of the floats. Not completely nude...in a g-string.
Didn't cause a ruckus at all.