5 things to do this weekend to celebrate Pride

June signals the start of Pride Month, a time to embrace and uplift the LGBTQ+ community by celebrating the diversity and power of queer history and culture. We’ve found a few events that will get you in the spirit, from drag shows at Club Café to joyful and festive parades. While we couldn’t include all of the events going on in the city (including the MFA’s First Friday, or the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus at Symphony Hall), we’ve rounded up some of our top picks below. And one more bonus event for the week: unwind at the free music festival SOMEDAY Fest, starring many LGBTQ+ artists from Greater Boston.

Club Café, the Back Bay area’s historic LGBTQ+ bar and club, kicks off Pride Week with a dinner and show. The performance will feature drag artistry, including lip-syncing and burlesque. Hosted by Boston’s Pop Princess Aurora, the event will spotlight drag stars Scarlet Lane, Big Fanny, Miss Pink Succubuss, Nerukessa and Yung Onyx. Can’t get enough of Club Café? On Friday, DJ Barry Scott will welcome revelers to a 1970s and ‘80s dance party from 6-9 p.m., while in the Napoleon Room, host Jonathan Gallegos presents a “Rainbow and Stars” Pride Party from 7-10 p.m., showcasing special guests April Ball, Benedikt Gylfason and Maeve Zamuner, followed by an open mic. Tickets to the Pride Drag Dinner cost $20, and include a discount on menu items ordered for the evening. Tickets to Friday’s dance party cost $15, while there is no cover for the “Rainbow and Stars” event. Visit Club Café's website for more Pride events.

The Boston Dyke March is a tradition that began in 1995 and offers “a noncommercial, intersectional and fundamentally grassroots alternative to Boston’s Pride celebration.” Arrive at Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common to participate in the 2-mile-long walk, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Expect to enjoy performances from goth/industrial duo Girl Hell 1999, hip-hop and reggae soul-rooted band Reina Williams + The Remedy, and punk rock group Linnea’s Garden. Speaker Teddy Walker of Protect Trans Futures will take the stage, and participants are invited to visit tables operated by Boston Queers on Wheels, Crafty Queer Studio, All She Wrote Books and more. Entry to Boston Dyke March is free and masks are required.

Cambridge’s Multicultural Arts Center is hosting an evening of interactive and exuberant celebration for Pride Month. When visitors arrive at 5:30 p.m., they'll break a sweat with a workout routine led by Cambridge gym Dirty Water Fitness. At 6 p.m., Providence-based dance company and performance lab The Haus of Glitter revs up the energy with a dance party, the perfect place to show off your moves and participate in a runway show. Senelle Nivan will share a drag performance, while a disco house set from Salyse will set the mood. The event is free, though donations are welcome.

This year’s Boston Pride for the People celebrates America’s queer history with the theme “Pride as Protest: Since 1776,” highlighting how queer people have always been here since our country’s inception. The festivities kick off with a parade starting at 11 a.m. in Copley Square and ending on Boston Common. Then from noon to 6 p.m., a festival will take place on Boston Common, featuring hip-hop duo Flyanna Boss, all-women and nonbinary wedding band The Femmes, all-men dance group QWAM and more entertainment, with poet Amanda Shea, the Boston Lesbigay Urban Foundation’s Curtis Santos and College of the Holy Cross professor Andre Isaacs serving as emcees. In Copley Square, a block party presenting local artists will take place from 2-8 p.m. Performers include photographer and dancer Olivia Moon (a 2022 WBUR Maker), drag artist Rose Quartz and UpRise Dance Crew. Beer, wine and seltzer will be available for purchase from Dorchester Brewery, Provincetown Brewery, Gay Beer and DrawDown Brewery.

If you haven’t seen cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” I’ll give you a brief rundown. Essentially, it’s about what happens when a young couple discovers the spooky mansion of mad scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter and enters a wild world of rock ‘n’ roll, camp and queer pride. The AMC Boston Common will be holding a special screening of the movie, accompanied by The Full Body Cast, a volunteer, nonprofit shadowcast troupe. (Shadowcasting describes the experience of having a movie performed live by actors in front of the film being played.) These screenings will continue throughout Saturdays in June. Looking to celebrate Pride with another movie earlier in the week? The AMC Boston Common will screen “Milk” on Friday. Tickets to “Rocky Horror” for adults cost $18.48, including processing fees.