June is Pride Month and the celebration of the LGBTQ community begins with pride flag raisings in Scranton on Sunday and Wilkes-Barre on Monday.
Weeks of events will follow, including a field day competition, a storytelling contest, pageant, parade and festival.
Sunday’s event begins at 10:30 a.m. at Scranton City Hall, 340 N. Washington Ave. Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti will attend. Queer NEPA is the community organizer. In Wilkes-Barre, the flag raising is at 10 a.m. Monday on Public Square, organized by the Rainbow Alliance. Wilkes-Barre City Hall will be represented at the event.
Field Gay, with traditional games such as a water balloon toss, is June 7 in Kirby Park, Wilkes-Barre. It runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is for ages 18 and up. Tickets: rainbowalliance.org/events.
The Scranton Fringe Festival Big Gay StorySlam competition is June 14 at 7 p.m. at the Radisson at Lackawanna Station hotel in Scranton. Tickets: scrantonfringe.org/events/the-big-gay-storyslam-2025/.
The NEPA PrideFest Royale Pageant drag competition is June 20 at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center, 100 Adams Ave., Scranton. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for the event at 6.
NEPA PrideFest is June 22 on Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, with the parade beginning at noon. The event goes until 4 p.m.
Information on Field Gay, the pageant, parade and PrideFest is online at rainbowalliance.org/events and on Rainbow Alliance’s social media.
Nominations are open through June 8 for the Pride Champion and Ally of the Year awards, on the Rainbow Alliance website.