OCEANSIDE, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Celebrations for Pride Month in San Diego County kicked off on Saturday with the North County LGBTQ Resource Center‘s 17th annual “Pride by the Beach” festival in Oceanside.

Thousands of festivalgoers made their way through the vibrant, family-friendly event near the city’s Civic Center, featuring LGBTQ+ entertainers and community organizations on top of more than 130 retail, food and resource vendors.

According to organizers, this year’s event theme was “Our Story, Our Power,” honoring the diversity and endurance of community members in the face of rising attacks on their rights nationwide.

LGBTQ+ Pride Month is starting to show its colors around the world. What to know

“Our theme this year, ‘Our Story, Our Power,’ reflects the essence of our festival,” Roxanne Deatherage, director of Pride by the Beach, said in a statement before the event. “It’s about showcasing the strength and resilience of our community through our own stories.”

“Pride by the Beach” on Saturday marked the first event this year for Pride Month in San Diego County.

Observed every June since the 1970s, Pride has served as a way to celebrate LGBTQ+ people across the globe and acknowledge their struggle for civil rights, which was catalyzed by a violent police raid and subsequent riots at New York’s Stonewall Inn in June 1969.

Above: A Nexstar video on the history of Pride Month.

The region’s biggest Pride Month event, the San Diego Pride Festival and Parade, will take place next month on July 20 and July 21. Additional events, such as the annual Spirit of Stonewall Rally and She Fest, will be held in the week leading up to the main event.

Before then, a handful of other events will be taking place, such as a gathering to put together a community ofrenda commemorating the eighth anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub massacre, the San Diego County Fair’s “Out at the Fair” day, and a Pride Bar crawl.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.