For one Saturday each October, the big lawn in Forsyth Park belongs to Savannah’s LGBTQIA+ community and everyone who wants to celebrate with them. The Savannah Pride Festival brings music, art, food trucks, local small businesses and community non-profits to the park from midday until late in the evening.
Savannah holds its Pride in October rather than June, and the organizers lean into the timing: they call Savannah “The Haunted Hostess City,” and the festival lands a week before Halloween.
The 2026 Festival
The 27th Annual Savannah Pride Festival takes place on Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. in Forsyth Park. This year’s theme is “Chosen Family: Love Beyond Fear.”
The festival is run by the Savannah Pride Center, a Savannah non-profit serving the region’s LGBTQIA+ community. The day’s schedule will be posted on the Center’s official festival listing, so check there for performers and times before you go.
Planning the Day
- Eleven hours is a long day. The festival runs from noon to 11 p.m., so staying close to the park makes it easy to head back to your room and return later.
- Walk if you can. Forsyth Park is at the southern end of the Historic District, and the whole district is only a little over a mile from top to bottom. The Pride Center’s listing carries its own parking notes for those driving in.
- It is a busy weekend downtown. The SCAD Savannah Film Festival opens the same day and Wag-O-Ween, the city’s costumed dog weekend, runs on the same Saturday and Sunday. Dinner reservations are worth making ahead.
- It is an all-ages event. The organizers describe it as fun for the whole family.
Where to Stay Near Forsyth Park
The Gastonian
The Gastonian stands on East Gaston Street, the northern edge of Forsyth Park, about a five-minute walk from the fountain. It occupies a pair of 1868 mansions joined by a walkway over a garden, with 17 individually named rooms, working fireplaces and claw-foot tubs. Breakfast, evening wine and hors d’oeuvres, and late desserts and coffee are all included, making it easy to come and go from the festival throughout the day. Adults-only.
Eliza Thompson House
Eliza Thompson House is three blocks north of the park on brick-paved West Jones Street, about six minutes from the lawn on foot. The 1847 house and its carriage house are built around a brick courtyard with a fountain, which is where guests gather for the evening wine and cheese hour. Breakfast and late desserts are included too. Adults-only. There is no on-site parking, but with the festival six minutes away on foot, you are unlikely to need the car much once you arrive.
Coming With Children, or With a Dog
Both inns near the park are adults-only. East Bay Inn, at the river end of the Historic District, is the one property in our collection that welcomes children and pets, with parking included in the amenity fee. It is about a 20-minute walk to Forsyth Park straight down through the squares, or a short ride. Kehoe House on Columbia Square is adults-only and farther from Forsyth Park, but puts you closer to the restaurants, bars and evening activity around the northern Historic District.
Booking
Three events share this Saturday, and the two inns beside the park have 42 rooms between them.
New to the city? Our first-timer’s guide to Savannah explains how the squares and the Historic District fit together.