WEST HOLLYWOOD—West Hollywood’s annual “One City, One Pride” festival has been moved to a virtual platform as of Friday, May 22 to accommodate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 40-day long event kicks off every year on Harvey Milk Day, a nationally recognized day in memory of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist who was assassinated in 1978.

The WeHo Arts Division is in charge of the festival, with a partnership by the non-profit, Christopher Street West (CSW). CSW has been in charge of organizing the Pride Parade for 50 years in West Hollywood.

City of West Hollywood Arts Coordinator, Michael Che said that moving the festival online was the best call to still show support for the LGBQT community:

“The One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival to an online virtual platform with performers and audience members participating from the safety of their homes. This will allow community members to celebrate and connect while staying healthy and safe.”

Each year the festival kicks off with a reading of “Harvey Stories” and ends with the “Circus of Books.” In between those days, each Friday they hold the “Pride Poets.”

Last year’s Pride Poets event reached over 600 people, as poets set up typewriters and wrote commission pieces throughout the city. For 2020, people can submit online requests for a poem and the poems written will be sent out to be written with chalk on the streets of the city, as well as posted online for all to view.

The festival has an open call for poets until Tuesday, May 27. The website has a list of all the times and events for this year.