For a few hot weeks each February, Sydney Mardi Gras turns Darlinghurst into a full-body experience: thumping house from balcony speakers, rainbow flags in every shopfront, and half the city squeezed along Oxford Street waiting for that first roar of Dykes on Bikes. The parade is the headline act, but the festival sprawls into parties, gallery shows, drag cabaret, talks and park-side picnics that pull you into the neighbourhood’s everyday queer life.

On parade night, Oxford and Flinders Streets become a moving light installation: more than 10,000 marchers, hundreds of floats and enough sequins to challenge the ozone layer. You’ll see everything from First Nations LGBTQIA+SB contingents and the original 78ers to voguing crews, sports clubs and political blocs calling out the fight that isn’t finished yet. It’s camp and chaotic, but it’s also a living reminder that this glitter circus was born from police violence, not party planning.

Base yourself around Darlinghurst and Surry Hills and let the night spill out: pre-drinks in packed corner pubs, parade viewing from the curb or a ticketed stand, then a slow, joyful migration toward late-night bars and official after-parties listed on the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras site. Between the whistles, whistles, whistles, you’ll catch what keeps people coming back every year: the feeling that, just for a moment, the city has been rebuilt in our image.

Parade

The parade is held on the first Saturday in March and starts as the sun goes down which is quite unique for a gay pride parade. The fact that the parade takes place after dark has allowed it to keep more of an edgy and adult-oriented feel compared to other parades. Having said that, like all gay pride parades, there has been a process of mainstreaming over the decades and if you speak to any old timers from the early days of the parade, they will tell you it’s a shadow of its former self [1]. The parade started as a political protest and has retained a strong political flavour, with many floats promoting queer issues.

The parade starts at Hyde Park and works its way up Oxford street, turns right at Taylor Square onto Flinders street and then finishes up at Moore Park. The parade typically has close to 200 floats and runs for several hours. 

Post-Parade Party

The post-parade party was added to the festival line-up in 1980 and has been a key element of the festival ever since. 10,000+ partygoers flock to the entertainment precinct at Moore Park after the parade and party until the early morning. As always, Sydney knows how to throw a party and there are numerous shows and acts throughout the night. Major acts who have appeared over the years include Cher, Kylie Minogue, George Michael, Rupaul and Sam Smith. 

Many parade participants go directly from the parade into the party plus there is a culture of wearing costumes (in reality this means wearing as little as possible) so the party has a camp, sexy atmosphere. Despite the high ticket price, the party is worth experiencing.

Other Events

• Laneway Festival - popular daytime dance party held at the Beresford pub the Sunday after the parade. There is often a great lineup of acts playing and you can often spot the major acts from the afterparty the night before in the VIP area. 
• Pool Party, Strip down to your budgie smugglers and enjoy a cocktail around the pool with the hottest young sydneysiders. Hosted at Ivy which is a beautiful venue in the city.
• Fair Day, a day in the park with stalls, performers and community activities
• Sissy Ball, hugely popular vogue ball based on New York City underground queer culture (think “Paris is Burning”)
• Kaftan Party, popular retro poolside party at the Ivy rooftop

From Protest to Party

Mardi Gras started in 1978 as part of International Gay Solidarity Day to commemorate the Stonewall Inn riots that had occurred in New York in June 1969 (1). Several events had been planned including a march in the morning, a public meeting in the afternoon, and then a celebratory parade in the evening. It was decided to have the parade at night as a way to motivate the gay community to join the movement under the cry of “out of the bars and into the streets!” [2].

The police had given approval for the parade down Oxford street, however, they stopped the parade part-way through, confiscated the lead truck and told the marchers to disperse. The crowd did not take kindly to this and continued marching towards King’s Cross picking up numbers along the way. The police misjudged the mood of the growing crowd, which eventually erupted into a riot, not unlike the Stonewall riots they were commemorating.

TV cameras captured the scenes and broadcast them around the world, showing the excessive force used by the police. New South Wales police were further scrutinised in the subsequent court trials when footage captured by a reporter directly contradicted official police testimony, causing the judge to throw the case out [1]. Further protests and subsequent arrests continued in the following weeks and months and demonstrations were held around the country, stimulating Australia’s gay rights movement. The parade has been held annually since this date.