What to Know
- Sunday, May 19
- 9:30 a.m.
- Long Beach Pride Parade
A pride parade is usually a feast of fantastic floats, and musical presentations, and band formations, and the sort of ebullient entries that lend liveliness and joy to the joyful day.
And while many people commit a lot of time, creativity, and effort to each parade entry, it is a rarer thing to see over 3,000 people contribute to a single enterprise, one that contains a lot of courage, heart, hope, diversity, and love.
But that's just what will be on display at the Long Beach Pride Parade on Sunday, May 19 when the MOLAA Chiachio & Giannone: Celebrating Diversity Flag appears on the route.
You won't be able to miss it, for not only is it impressively sizable at 30 by 80 feet, it will also be held aloft by over 120 people.
What those volunteers will be lifting high? A patchwork comprised of 3,390 fabric tiles, signed with meaningful messages by a host of people.
Messages, and heart symbols, too, one of the most prevalent illustrations seen on the flag.
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Leo Chiachio and Daniel Giannone, the Argentinian textile artists behind the enormous artwork, will help carry the flag, which came together over 60 days.
Make that 60 days and many people from many locations, for a host of Californians all took the time to create their own tile while visiting the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach this spring.
Museum guests from other states, as well as nations outside of the U.S., also drew on a tile or added a few kind words or a message of strength.
The flag was completed in about 500 hours.
To applaud this monumental work, the work of its artists, and contributors, as well as MOLAA and Long Beach's AIDS Food Store, another partner on the project, find some curb near the parade on Sunday morning, May 19, to cheer on this fantastic, and deeply moving, flag.
Where to see it before the parade? It's currently on view at the Museum of Latin American Art.
