Last year’s Houston Pride Parade was a record breaker. After a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the parade and accompanying festival welcomed between 700,000 to 800,000 in 2022, a marked increase from the 600,000 who are estimated to have showed up when the event had been held last in 2019. Unfortunately, there was also record-breaking heat.

“We had four cooling buses,” says Kendra Walker, president of Pride Houston 365, the organization that puts on the festival and parade. “Those buses were full by 2 p.m. Our headliner didn’t even come on until 4 p.m.”

The city’s EMTs were overwhelmed, and after the celebration had wrapped, Pride Houston 365 received some enormous bills from people who developed heat-related illnesses during the festivities. “This festival is no longer safe in the daytime,” Walker says. “At the end of the day, we want a safe festival for everyone—for kids, for adults.”

Out of a concern for public safety, Walker and her team made the difficult decision this year to cancel the festival component, which happens earlier in the day and usually attracts around 50,000 people. The parade is still on, but the start time has been pushed from 7 p.m. back to 7:30 p.m. Walker and her team hope that by starting a little later, they’ll see a decrease in heat-related illnesses. This will be especially important as Houston is currently suffering through a massive heatwave that may carry through to Saturday, June 24, when the parade takes place.

For regular attendees, this all amounts to some pretty big changes. The festival and parade, the third largest Pride event in the nation, has been held every year (except for the pandemic break) since 1979. It’s a huge draw, bringing in both members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies from across the Houston area and the rest of the state.

While it’s impossible for Pride Houston 365 to control the heat index, the organization is doing everything in its power to make sure the festival returns next year in a much safer iteration. Walker says the team is in talks with the city to do a full revamp of the festival for 2024. Their plan is to have it take place on the Friday before the parade, and at night, giving festival goers a respite from what will most likely be another steamy Houston summer.

“A lot of people think you can just move a festival to the nighttime, but you can’t just do that. It takes planning. It’s going to be like a new event,” Walker says, explaining why the changes couldn’t be implemented this year. “We could all end up having a lot more fun with it happening at night, because, hey, everyone knows we all love a little razzle-dazzle and some lights.”

To keep attendees safe from the heat this year, Pride Houston 365 has tripled the number of EMTs they usually have at the parade. Sponsors like Kroger have also stepped in with increased water donations. “The message we want to send to everybody is to hydrate. Have a good time, but drink yourself a bottle of water,” she says. “And if you see someone with signs of dehydration, get that person a bottle of water.”

But staying isn’t the only issue that’s been top of mind for the community in that last year. With the recent rise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation across the nation, some parade goers are equally concerned about their physical safety. Walker and Pride Houston 365 have kept track of threats over the past few years, which is why more than 26 agencies, including Homeland Security, the Houston Police Department, and SWAT teams, participate in the parade.

“Who gives a care about them. We’re used to them,” she says of potential agitators. “It’s all designed to scare. It’s designed to strike fear. And what’s the opposite of fear? Love. So, we show up, we show love, and we show our pride. And hopefully, one day that will overcome the majority of the hate. You always will have those who hate; that’s just life. But what we’re trying to strive for is a society in which you’re not wondering if it’s safe to attend a Pride celebration.”