Pride Month Celebration

Downtown Oak Park’s popular dine-around series Thursday Night Out returns on June 5 with a special Pride Event. The Village is hosting the family-fun area for this special edition of Thursday Night Out, which will run from 5 to 9 p.m. on Marion Street between Lake Street and North Boulevard. There will be bouncy houses, face painting, music, giveaways and more! 

Downtown Oak Park restaurants offer a variety of drinks, appetizers, entrees and desserts on the Thursday Night Out menu and allow diners to eat inside or carry out. Tables are also set up outside for patrons to enjoy dining al fresco. 

Thursday Night Out Information

Don't miss Out in the Burbs from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 7 in Downtown Oak Park!

The Village is teaming up with Downtown Oak Park and the Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce to host this new, collaborative all-day Pride event full of energy, inclusivity and community celebration on Marion Street between Lake Street and North Boulevard.

Out in the Burbs is a vibrant celebration of LGBTQ+ pride and community spirit in the suburbs. Born from a desire to create inclusive spaces beyond city centers, this event brings together individuals from all walks of life to honor diversity, love, and acceptance. The event features:

• Live music
• Dynamic performances
• Teen pride zone featuring a gaming truck, extreme inflatable, face painting and henna, photo booth and more!
• Bustling marketplace of local vendors

Out in the Burbs Information

Pride Month celebrates the diversity and achievements of the LGBTQ community, while also raising awareness for the community’s fight for equal rights. 

The Village of Oak Park has a long history of supporting LGBTQ issues. In 1989, Oak Park’s Human Rights Ordinance was amended to bar employment and housing discrimination for gays and lesbians.

The Village secured domestic partnership benefits for Village employees in 1994.

And in 1997, Oak Park established a Domestic Partnership Registry for same-sex couples, the first municipality in Illinois to do so.

The rainbow flag, the iconic symbol of the LGBTQ movement, is flown all year outside of Village Hall.

Oak Park was also one of the first municipalities in the country to make diversity a matter of public policy by formally adopting a written statement that embodied the importance of openness and acceptance to quality of life in a community. Read the Village’s Diversity Statement at www.oak-park.us/diversitystatement.

Pride Month is held in June to honor the 1969 Stonewell Uprising in Manhattan, considered a turning point in the Gay Liberation Movement.

For more information, contact DEI@oak-park.us or 708.358.5405.