Wellington Pride Festival
The Wellington Pride Festival is the yearly LGBT Pride celebration in Wellington, New Zealand. It includes Out in the Square, the current name for the annual Gay and Lesbian Fair that began in 1986.
The fair was started by local Des Smith to help fundraise for the Wellington Gay Task Force and to raise visibility for law reform. Its original slogan was “A Fair for a Fair Law.” After key laws were changed (the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986 and the Human Rights Act in 1993), the fair broadened its purpose to support other local gay and lesbian causes, like the Lilac Library and the AIDS Foundation.
Since 2008, Out in the Square has been linked with a newer LGBT festival called Proud and is now held in Wellington’s Civic Square for high visibility. The event includes performances from the rainbow community, the Iko Iko Handbag Hurl, and stalls selling food, drinks, plants, and more. Organizers describe it as a festive day for the whole community and part of the City Council’s Summer City Festival.
The fair ran for 22 years as the Wellington Gay and Lesbian Fair at Newtown School before moving to the central city in 2008. The current organizers are Out Wellington Inc. In 2010, for the fair’s 25th anniversary, the Mayor awarded Des Smith the Pink Wellington Award for his role in starting the event.
Out in the Square is a significant event for Wellington’s gay and lesbian community and is often seen as one of New Zealand’s largest outdoor gay community events. While attendance numbers vary, organizers say more than 8,000 people attend each year.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 06:33 (CET).