Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - The fifth pride festival, Vallarta Pride 2017, concluded its week of events on Sunday, May 28th, celebrating with a resounding success the LGBTQI community that lives in and visits Puerto Vallarta.

This year, Vallarta Pride brought a whole week of celebration with events such as the Fashion Party, exclusive parties for women and men, the traditional Pulpito Drag Derby, pool parties, circuit parties with international DJs, projection of films with a LGBT theme, a health fair in Parque Hidalgo, the traditional Pride Parade and the first Block Party of Vallarta Pride.

These last two events were attended by thousands of tourists and locals, who gathered to enjoy the parade, which began at 8:00 pm at Hotel Sheraton Buganvilias, went over the Malecón, and concluded on Lázaro Cárdenas street. There, the celebration did not stop until dawn, as the thousands of attendees joined the Block Party and enjoyed circuit music, multicolored lights, go-go dancers, fireworks, as well as drinks and food from the bars along the street, such as Fiesta Bar, La Noche, Mr. Flamingo, Los Muertos Brewing, CC Slaughters and La Margarita, who also sponsored the event.

It is worth mentioning that this year's Pride Parade broke its own record of attendance, with more than 7,000 people attending and following the parade, according to official figures. The parade included the participation of more than 60 groups of people from associations, schools, companies, sponsors, and the public in general who paraded or rode on colorful floats through the streets of downtown.

Among those who joined the parade were artists and friends of Pride, like the Grand Marshall of Vallarta Pride 2017, singer Johnathan Celestin; visual artist Daniel Arzola; Vancouver Pride ambassadors; The director and producer of the documentary Beyond Gay, Robert Christie; the local ambassador of Vallarta Pride, Martha Dau; famous vloggers Bria & Chrissy, and many others.

This year's Pride Parade was also very special for another reason: For the first time in its history, municipal authorities joined in, like the Mayor of Puerto Vallarta, Arturo Dávalos Contreras, who was accompanied by his wife, the president of the DIF System, Candelaria Tovar Of Dávalos; City Councilors Susana Rodríguez, Edelmira Orizaga and Eduardo Martínez; Directors of dependencies; and a large group of civil protection and public safety officers, tourism police and fire fighters.

With pre-production taking place throughout the year, the Vallarta Pride Organizing Committee invites all interested parties to participate in the organization of Vallarta Pride 2018. Funds are also being raised for the organization of the event in 2018 and to cover many of the production costs from this year, which totaled more than 1 million pesos. Please consider making a donation to the Vallarta Pride Go Fund Me account. Together we can achieve a better and brighter Vallarta Pride in 2018!

For more information about Vallarta Pride, visit the website, or the official Facebook page.