Help Create The Sunshine Coast Pride Festival You Want To See

The Sunshine Coast Pride Festival is returning for 2025, and the community is being invited to help shape its big revival.

Organised by the Sunshine Pride Network, the Pride Festival has returned after a six year break with a fresh rebrand and more energy than ever.

Held from 14 to 23 November, 2025 will be the longest Pride Festival the Sunshine Coast has ever seen, as well as first time the community is invited to contribute events to its program.

“This is the first time we’ve done an open source program that’s similar to a Fringe Festival, where people can submit their own events,” Pride Network organiser Sophie deLightful told Star Observer.

“We’re trying to create a demonstration or an illustration of the diverse and active groups that are already doing stuff for the LGBTQIA community.”

With an extended deadline of September 1, there’s only one month to submit your events, so you can help create the Pride of your dreams.

The festival is open to a whole range of ideas, and are looking for a diverse representation of the LGBTQIA+ community across the region. Events could look like family-friendly picnics, roller discos, swim squads, music shows, art exhibitions, creative programs, sporting demonstrations, and more.

The festival aims to foster a safe, inclusive and joyful space where LGBTQIA+ individuals, their families, and allies can come together to honour and embrace the vibrant spectrum of identities and experiences that enrich the Sunshine Coast community.

Festival return welcomed with a “real positivity” from the community

This year, the Pride Festival is running over two weekends to allow more opportunities for event organisers and attendees alike to take advantage of availabilities from Friday to Sunday.

Among its events, the Pride Festival will include a regional Pride forum, Indigenous Pride celebrations, a roller derby game, a queer film exhibition, and the biggest event, the Fair Day at the Kings Beach Amphitheatre in Caloundra.

Although the queers have been keeping a bit quiet across the Sunshine Coast these last few years, they certainly haven’t disappeared.

“I’ve only been here a few years, and I was blown away when I started getting involved with the Pride Network and actually discovering all the groups that are already doing stuff. There’s just such a huge variety,” deLightful said.

“So you’ve got a lot of people, everyone from kids and families to senior citizens, and all the different kind of interest groups and stuff. So we’d really love for them to be represented, as well as anyone who has a fun idea.”

deLightful says the network has been bolstered by the widespread community.

“The feedback we were getting from the community, even when we were just relaunching the website, was just like, I’m so glad that you’ve done this. I’m so glad that the website now lists all the calendar of all the events… there’s this real positivity from our community.”

Submit your idea for the Sunshine Coast Pride Festival here. Submissions close 5pm, September 1.