This year may be the 25th anniversary of Pride Amsterdam, but the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing restrictions on events mean the significant milestone will pass without much fanfare. However, some of those involved in organising the event are hopeful that, next year, a week-long celebration will be able to take place to celebrate the significant milestone.

Celebrating 25th anniversary of Pride Amsterdam in 2022

For the second year in a row, organisers of Pride Amsterdam have been forced to cancel a number of events and parties, including the iconic parade on the Amsterdam canals. 2021 was supposed to be a big year, and while things won’t go ahead as planned, a number of businesses who are typically involved in the organisation of the street parties have said they would like to see an even bigger and better Pride event in 2022 to make up for the two missed years. 

Talking to Amsterdam news site AT5, Eward Koning, who represents the bars and restaurants on the “gay street” Reguliersdwarsstraat, said organisers and businesses were “seriously discussing” the option of hosting a party week next May. 

“For two years we have missed a lot of events: two times Pride, two times runway show, two times King's Day and two times Eurovision. So we want to make up for these ten days." The municipality is yet to approve the plans, but Koning promises it will be a “historic week.”

Pride 2021: No canal parade or streetparties

While this year’s celebrations aren’t going to be as explosive as was initially planned (and hoped), there’s still plenty going on throughout the Dutch capital to mark the occasion. Organisers of Pride Amsterdam have focussed their efforts on smaller events that are guaranteed to be able to go ahead safely. 

There’s a historic photo exhibition in Vondelpark, displaying 50 of the most iconic photos from the last 25 years of Pride Amsterdam. August 7 will also see people come together for the Pride Walk, which will stray from tradition slightly and set off from Amsterdam RAI instead of the Homomonument in the city centre. 

Organisers were initially hopeful that some smaller-scale street parties would be able to go ahead, but the current coronavirus restrictions for non-seated events mean this won’t be possible.