Thousands set to attend Eastbourne Pride as organisers announce event at full capacity

People are being advised not to come to the main event in the park until after 1pm on Saturday (July 21) if they do not have a wristband.

But everyone is still encouraged to come along and show support at the parade, which sets off at 11am from the Southern Water Treatment Works at Langney Point Car Park and will travel along the promenade to Fort Fun and end up in Princes Park.

Organisers said in a statement, “We at Eastbourne Pride are astounded at the high number of people trying to get wristbands for Pride this year.

“We never dreamt that we would fill the park of 4,500 people to attend a pride event in Eastbourne.

“Wristband registration has been open since January 2018 and we closed the registration on July 7 as all the wristbands are gone. People had seven months to register.

“Every person was then emailed last weekend to let us know if they were attending and to collect their bands as we have turned away more than 1,000 extra people who wanted to attend that didn’t register for wristbands.

“Only 60 per cent of people returned the emails to let us know. So we are saying to people if you don’t have a wristband please do not turn up ar the park on Saturday tull well after 1pm.

“We cannot guarantee that you will get into the park but we will have a better idea of numbers by this time.

“Please do come and support the parade by the promenade.”

The Eastbourne Pride Team continued, “This is a free event we put on for the community that costs thousands of pounds to put on that we have to raise ourselves.

“Please do not be rude to organisers or volunteers who work tirelessly to put the event on as some people have been already.

“We hope everyone has a happy and safe Pride weekend and to follow our social media for updates and future events that we do.”

Read more:

Get ready for Eastbourne Pride

Man who was persecuted for being gay looks forward to Eastbourne Pride