Why Ferndale Pride Is Moving From June to August in 2027
Organizers promise the same free festival on a new date and ask supporters to keep downtown businesses busy during construction
Ferndale Pride usually gets a head start on the season. The festival lands the Saturday after Memorial Day, often before June even begins, which makes it one of the first Pride celebrations in Michigan each year. In 2027, it will be one of the last.
The festival, which packs West 9 Mile Road with stages and thousands of revelers, will take place Aug. 7 after the City of Ferndale announced it will rebuild the road between Woodward Avenue and Pinecrest Drive beginning in the spring. The original date, June 5, fell inside the construction window. According to the city, the August date lets the festival keep its existing footprint without running into the roadwork.
Ferndale Pride launched in 2011, the same year Motor City Pride left Ferndale for Detroit‘s Hart Plaza, and it now bills itself as the largest free-to-the-public LGBTQ+ festival in the state. A 2025 U.S. House resolution recognizing Ferndale’s contributions to Michigan’s LGBTQ+ community estimated the 2024 festival drew about 30,000 people, and the event routinely pulls visitors from across Metro Detroit and beyond. The 2027 festival will be its 17th.