Midsumma Festival

Melbourne’s annual celebration of gay and lesbian culture and art is also known as the Midsumma Festival. It is the largest cultural festival of its type, celebrated in the city since 1988.

During this celebration, you’ll find everything from performing arts to music, sports to film. The Midsumma Festival is held at various venues around the city and draws massive crowds every year.

Midsumma Festival Melbourne 2026, Pride March Dates & Location

Our primary event, Midsumma Festival, usually runs over 22 days in Melbourne’s summer (January/February) each year with an explosion of queer events that centre around hidden and mainstream queer culture, involving local, interstate, and international artists.

The Midsumma Festival program comprises a curated Midsumma Presents line-up plus the community-driven Open-access stream to share with you the lived experiences of those voices at the margins, the expression of queer history, and the celebration of new ideas and stories that come to life through world-class art and performance.

Our festival program comprises diverse art forms and genres, including visual arts, live music, theatre, spoken word, cabaret, film, parties, sports, social events, and public forums. Featuring over 200 events in 2023, 153 events in 2022, 163 events in 2021, and 194 events in 2020 (despite COVID-19 limitations in 2021 and 2022), with involvement by over 5000 culture-makers in over 100 different venues across Melbourne and wider Victoria – to audiences averaging 255,202 attendees over the past four years.

Midsumma Carnival

Midsumma Carnival highlights the opening weekend of the three-week Festival each year. It will run again from 11am into the evening in the Alexandra Gardens, beside the Yarra River in Melbourne’s CBD.

Showcasing our local and international artists and performers with endless things to see, do, and eat your way through, Midsumma Carnival is an iconic full-day outdoor extravaganza dedicated to kicking off our three-week-long festival!

Midsumma Carnival is an iconic full-day outdoor extravaganza dedicated to kicking off our three-week-long festival! Located in Alexandra Gardens in Melbourne’s bustling CBD, Midsumma Carnival features many LGBTQIA+ acts that will grace the four carnival stages: Main, Picnic, Sports and Family. This popular annual day event attracts over 120,000 people, and entry is free!

With over 210 stalls, including pop-up bars, two large food zones, free giveaways, and multiple queer-friendly community groups and business stalls for you to visit, there’s bound to be something for everyone. There’s even a parade for your dog, with fabulous prizes up for grabs!

Midsumma Carnival offers a variety of fun, safe spaces that are open to everyone from dawn to dusk, including sports activities, a youth area and a family area.

Fancy a picnic? Bring your friends and family and chill out on one of the grassy meadows surrounding our many stages to enjoy Carnival’s entertainment! Our talented artists will leave you in awe with a variety of singers, drag artists, DJs, performers, and even an opportunity to show off your talents with our Lip Sync Limelight competition!

As the night approaches, Midsumma Carnival wakes up with an extravagant dance party across both the Main and Picnic stages. You’ll join thousands of people dancing the night away and party to a massive line-up on each stage, including a handful of major headliners.

Midsumma Pride March

Parade, pride and party come together once a year in Melbourne’s iconic march celebrating solidarity in gender and sexuality diversity. A chance to tie up your bootlaces or throw on your heels and join the spectacular act of unity, the Midsumma Pride March. Whether you join the fanfare by foot or by wheel, with workmates or with family, with friends or with lovers, as an ally or as queer, Midsumma Pride March is for you.

Join over 53,000 people to celebrate Midsumma Pride March! Bring your friends, family, and loved ones to celebrate our diversity in this day-long event as we strut down Fitzroy Street with ferocity, uniqueness, and diversity with the ones we love.

Grab your friends, family, and loved ones to flaunt your pride at Midsumma Pride March this year! Whether you join the parade by foot or wheel, with workmates or with family, with friends or with loved ones, as an ally or as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, the Midsumma Pride March is the place to celebrate all gender expressions, sexualities, experiences, and personalities with colours, sparkle and style.

March with ferocity, uniqueness, and pride down Fitzroy Street in a kilometre-long parade route to Catani Gardens. The march begins with the roaring motors of the Dykes on Bikes as per tradition. The march is led by the Boon Wurrung Elders, Rainbow Aboriginal Float and LGBTQIA+ youth.

At the end of the march, you’ll be greeted with free entertainment and festivities, including DJs and live performances by the iconic St Kilda beachside.

We march because we are fierce, fabulous, loved, diverse and proud. Join the Midsumma Pride March to march with those who can and in solidarity with those who cannot.

Marching Route
The Route: From the Ian Johnson oval, marchers proceed down Fitzroy St and end in Catani Gardens, St Kilda – see above map.
End of March: Marchers will turn right into Acland St, then enter Catani Gardens via the pedestrian crossing. Vehicles will turn right onto Beaconsfield Parade at the pedestrian crossing.

Getting There
Midsumma Pride March is a big event with road closures, limited parking and changes in public transport.

Parking
Due to the congestion caused by the Midsumma Pride March and the size of the event, there will be less parking than what is usually available in the precinct. Midsumma highly recommends taking public transport or cycling to the event.

Another option could be to park some distance away and catch a tram (e.g., near MSAC and catch the 96 tram to St Kilda Station). If you are unable to catch public transport, surrounding options for parking include:

• Palais Theatre Parking – Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda (via Carlisle/Acland Street only)
• Luna Park – 23 Shakespeare Grove, St Kilda (via Carlisle/Acland Street only)
• Acland Court – 158 Acland Street, St Kilda

Tram
Trams will not be traveling down Fitzroy Street between 10.30am and 2.30pm, but can still be used to get you close to the March (see tram routes map).

• Route 96 to Stop 132 (St Kilda Station). There will be special 96a trams shuttling between Spencer St and St Kilda Station.
• Route 12 (Victoria Gardens to St Kilda via Spencer St) to Stop 143 (Park Street/Fitzroy Street) will be running as normal.
• Routes 3, 5, 16, 64 or 67 along St Kilda Rd to Stop 30 (St Kilda Junction).

Bus
Bus routes 600, 606 and 922 will be affected by the event, however will be diverted to nearby temporary stops. Bus options during the Fitzroy Street closure period are:

• Route 246 (Elsternwick to Clifton Hill) to St Kilda Road/Barkly Street (running as normal)
• Route 623 (Glen Waverley to St Kilda) to Luna Park/The Esplanade via Carlisle Street (running as normal)
• Route 606 (Fishermans Bend to Elsternwick Station) will reroute via St Kilda Station during the closure period (8am to 4:30pm)
• Route 600/922/923 (Southland Shopping Centre to St Kilda via Sandringham) will run as normal but will not service the last two stops (St Kilda Station or Robe/Grey St).

Getting there from Train Stations

• From Balaclava Station: Tram 3/3a or 16 to Stop 30 (St Kilda Junction)
• From Caulfield Station: Tram 3/3a to Stop 30 (St Kilda Junction)
• From Elsternwick Station: Tram 67 to Stop 30 (St Kilda Junction) or Route 246 bus to St Kilda Rd/Barkly St
• From Flinders Street Station: Tram 3/3a, 5, 16, 64 or 67 to Stop 30 (St Kilda Junction)
• From Southern Cross Station: Tram 96 or 12 to Fitzroy Street
• From Windsor Station: Tram 5 or 64 from Stop 32 (Dandenong Rd) to Stop 30 (St Kilda Junction), or walk (15-20 minutes).

Cycling
The Fitzroy Street cycling path will be closed during Midsumma Pride March, but the Bayside Trail will be unaffected.

The easiest and safest route is via Cowderoy St, which links the Bayside Trail (at Pier Rd) to Canterbury Rd and the Western Bike Path. Alternatively, follow Cavell, Carlisle and Barkly Streets, which link the Bayside Trail to St Kilda Rd.

Stage Line Up
The draft stage line-up is listed below.

11am: DJ
12noon: The Beryls welcome people who have marched and interview some marchers
1pm: Welcome to Country by N’Arweet Caraloyn Briggs + Official speakers
1.30pm: DJ Gaff E
2pm: Awards presented by The Beryls
4pm: Close

Victoria’s Pride

Join us for the 5th edition of Victoria’s Pride Street Party – a celebration of progress, love, and diversity!

Experience a full day of LGBTQIA+ art, live music, performances, community and culture, with stalls showcasing local treasures. Open to all – families, friends, and allies – there’s something for everyone, from morning to night.

The iconic Gertrude and Smith Streets will once again be transformed into a free, all-day, jam-packed block party for all ages. Multiple live music stages and performances from local and international musicians and artists will celebrate Victoria’s diverse LGBTIQ+ communities.

Local businesses down Gertrude and Smith Street will benefit from the party – serving food and drink to the thousands of people expected to attend. At the same time, some will be incorporated into the party with shopfront activations and performances in venues.

Victoria’s Pride is an opportunity for LGBTQIA+ Victorians and the wider community to celebrate the remarkable journey of equality through inspirational arts, community involvement, food, and culture.

Stages & Activations
The street party will again have multiple stages plus a host of activations around the precinct.

Get ready for a day filled with music, dance, comedy, circus, and community spirit! These artists set the tone for a program celebrating queer talent, cultural diversity, and community participation.

So come on and support this fun event during Melbourne’s beautiful summer season! There is so much going on that it’s hard to capture it all on a single page. Please check out the official guide for full information on events, dates, times, locations, and prices.