Every year, tri-Pride’s Summer Festival (Pride in the Park) boasts local talent highlighting excellence in drag and music right here in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. We’re back at it for Summer-Fest 2026 [YEAR 30] and we’re looking for this year’s cast! The annual Pride festival brings in over 6,000 attendees and is a day of Queer celebration, protest and joy – featuring a vendor marketplace, a beer garden, a kidz zone and an 8-hour music and drag show + more! Thank you for your interest in sharing your talent and brilliance on the biggest Pride stage across Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge.
We’re bringing PRIDE back to the Tri-Cities on Saturday June 6th, 2026 from 12:00PM-8:00PM at Willow River Park, Kitchener (FKA., Victoria Park).
As part of a deep organizational commitment to equitable practices and community transparency, we are thrilled to host an open TALENT CALL for both local drag performers and local musicians once again this year. Here’s what you can expect from the process on the road to Summer-Fest 2026:
- Submission of Entertainment Application form including demo reel (see below)
- Decisions made by tri-Pride Board members using Summer-Fest Entertainment Criteria
- Follow-up from tri-Pride with final decisions
- Casted entertainers to have pre-event conversation with tri-Pride Director of Entertainment
- Casted entertainers connected to our stage, sound & lighting producers for advanced entertainment planning
- tri-Pride to promote entertainers as part of event marketing
- SUMMER FESTIVAL 2026!
Here’s what we’re looking for in terms of cast capacity and program schedule:
- 12 unique local drag artist slots
- 5 unique local music slots
If you have any questions or need any support in submitting an application, please email entertainment@tri-pride.ca
We’re constantly pursuing more funding to be able to do everything – including paying performers – better. We hope to be able to share final compensation amounts by mid-April but we’re aiming to offer $150-$200 per performance. As always, tips will also be invited and collected from the audience at the event for each performance, both drag and musical, which will go directly to the respective performer.
Application submissions due by May 1st, 2026 at 11:59pm. Submission does not guarantee you a performer spot at Summer-Fest 2026 but it does guarantee a follow-up from us.