Before the City of Long Beach pulled the permit on the Long Beach Pride Festival Friday, the organization was already running out of money. Out of time too.
After the cancellation, the city didn’t walk away. It offered to help. Long Beach Pride said no.
According to a statement obtained by CBS Los Angeles, the city offered Pride two alternatives Friday night: use of the Long Beach Terrace Theater and plaza, which holds up to 3,000 people, or the Bixby Park bandshell for a free outdoor concert. Mayor Rex Richardson offered to privately raise up to $50,000 to support either option. Long Beach Pride declined both.
The rejection came as details emerged about the organization’s finances. Q Voice News first reported the organization’s financial distress two days before the cancellation, citing treasurer’s reports from board meetings. The festival’s budget was $500,000. Long Beach Pride had raised less than $100,000 of it. Only 331 tickets had been sold as of April 29. Tickets were priced at $40 per day.
“I’m calling everyone I know,” Pride president Tonya Martin said in an April 20 interview with Q Voice News. “The promise notes will start coming in, but we need help.”
The organization had no major corporate sponsors this year. No company had committed $30,000 or more. In prior years corporations paid that amount and above. This year’s sponsors included Honda, St. Mary Medical Center, LA Metro, AHF, and the Port of Long Beach, each at a minimum of $10,000.
The financial trouble wasn’t new. From 2022 to 2024, Long Beach Pride lost more than $1.8 million, according to tax filings. The organization lost $819,066 in 2022, $716,729 in 2023, and $306,000 in 2024.
In early March, Pride treasurer Wayne Manous sent a text to board members. Manous wrote that the organization couldn’t afford to pay its loan or cover festival costs and said he didn’t know what to do. He listed outstanding loan payments, late fees, and nearly $1,900 in property taxes owed.
Asked in April what Long Beach Pride would do if it failed to raise its $500,000 budget, Martin said, “I don’t give away my secret sauce.”
Questions have also surfaced about whether organizers continued selling tickets after they knew the event was in jeopardy. Fox 11 reported it’s unclear whether the organization will face formal legal scrutiny over the timeline of ticket sales against the cancellation. Tickets were still available until roughly 30 minutes before the scheduled opening.
Q Voice News asked Martin directly whether any money had been improperly taken from Pride by former members or leaders. “Not that I know,” she said. “Once I have the funding, I will do an audit.” No audit of the organization’s finances has been conducted to date.
The city said it had requested the missing safety documentation “multiple times over the past several months and again recently,” according to an email to Pride reviewed by the Long Beach Post. As of the morning of May 16, the city still hadn’t received approved structural plans for the stage and trusses, approved electrical plans, or detailed security plans.
U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat and former Long Beach mayor, said the cancellation was “gut-wrenching” in a statement posted on social media. “There are many outstanding questions about the festival that need to be answered,” Garcia said, according to The Advocate and MyNewsLA. He said Pride is bigger than one event. “Pride is more than just a Festival,” he said.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said she was glad the parade went on but disappointed the festival didn’t, Fox 11 reported.
The organization estimated roughly 20,000 attended in 2023, Q Voice News reported.
The city didn’t stop there. After Long Beach Pride turned down the Bixby Park bandshell option, the city activated it anyway. A free replacement event called “Canceled? Never Heard of Her!” ran Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. at Bixby Park, featuring live music, drag performances, and dancing hosted by Jewels of Long Beach. Delta Work also appeared, according to The Advocate.
“Long Beach Pride weekend is a culmination of celebrations put on by our community,” Mayor Richardson said in a statement issued late Saturday. “We are proud to join the party with this new event that reaffirms what this City has always stood for: that every person belongs here.”
The city also noted that its support of the Pride parade — originally described as a one-time rescue — has now continued for a third consecutive year.
The Pride Parade also went ahead Sunday with 141 entries, the most in its history, the city said. It stepped off at 10 a.m. at Ocean Boulevard and Lindero Avenue.
WEHOonline reached out to Long Beach Pride Board President, Tanya Martin by text multiple times seeking comment. She had not responded as of publication.
While this was sad to read, all of our Pride events need to take into account the political/economic realities we are now facing. Corporations are less likely to be as generous as in years past due to intimidation from the Trump Administrative. Pride organizers need to accept this reality and downsize accordingly. Budgets for these events have skyrocketed and people are not sure they are getting value for their dollar. Back in the day our events were pretty much community oriented without a lot of flash; maybe getting back to basics is something we need to do. Lastly there does… Read more »
All valid points, Steve.
Thank you for this much more clear picture of what happened. We all knew there had to be more to the story. In the past, the Board was strong, connected and had relationships with many financial and goverment resources to get things done. They were busy all year around leading up to Pride. There was an abundance of proceeds after each pride festival to carry over and start again the the next year and and each year they gave a significant number of grants to community non-profits that did great work in the community; HIV programs, housing, recovery, food banks,… Read more »
The credit really belongs to Phillip Zonkel of Q Voice News. He did an outstanding job of following the money – or lack thereof. Phil has lead Q Voice News for a long time and is a great journalist. Thank you still though for supporting WEHOonline 🙂
Thanks for the update. There needs to be a full audit of Long Beach Pride as there are questions about the money flow and where it was spent. I was surprised there were no major sponsors this year as most pride festivals depend on them to get through operating a two day festival.After reading about the money losses the last three years, it should have come as no surprise that the festival was in very serious jeopardy. I am afraid there is a very strong possibility that Long Beach Pride could go out of existence and there will an end… Read more »
It is becoming clear that the Long Beach Pride organization needs to dismiss president Tonya Martin. Just in this article, the quotes are horrendous. No accountability, no transparency, and clearly no leadership. She needs to go.
A new Pride board should be selected. If Long Beach Pride doesn’t do the right thing and completely reorganize with a majority of new board members, the City should work with new community members to form a new Long Beach Pride nonprofit. This is unacceptable.
Thank you for the update Brian and so sorry to hear all this. Credit to the City for their efforts and their last-minute programming. Perhaps LB Pride coming under City aegis is a way forward. My sense is the Pride President is not long for her role.
If West Hollywood and Long Beach can work together, there might be economies of scale/ negotiation power to be achieved for both cities without running into anticompetitive issues.