Gay8 Festival gets canceled for 2024. Organizers say the City of Miami denied funding

Gay8, a popular LGBTQ street festival free to the public, will not make its return to Little Havana in 2024.

4Ward Miami, a nonprofit that promotes diversity and organizes Gay8, made the decision because it did not receive enough funding from sponsors and the City of Miami, which has provided financial support and services for the festival in previous years, said Aly Ramos, the group’s chairwoman. Instead, the organization will focus on its annual 4Ward Gala in February.

Ramos said it was a difficult decision to cancel the festival, which was scheduled for Feb. 18. She added the city did not tell the organizers why it denied the funds. The funding issue comes as the city government is embroiled with several legal battles.

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The City of Miami did not immediately provide a comment to the Herald.

“The reality is that we need the support of our sponsors and our community partners, and we didn’t have it. The city hasn’t been supportive of us this year,” Ramos said. “We were trying to produce a quality event like we’ve done in the past, and we strongly feel that we won’t be able to do that in 2024.”

Gay8, which features food, vendors, live performances, art and music on Calle Ocho, began in 2016. The festival boasts thousands of attendees each year.

‘Lack of support from the community overall’

There have been hiccups in the past. In 2017, organizers canceled the 2018 Gay8 festival because the city gave their presumed date to the Univision-sponsored Three Kings Parade. (At the time, the city said the festival didn’t get the slot because of its first-come, first-serve policy for special event permits.) The 2018 event was then rescheduled and held on Feb. 18.

The event organizers need about $400,000 a year to hold the festival, which is 60% of similar festivals’ budgets, Ramos estimated.

Typically, organizers raise about $300,000 from sponsors and booth sales. The city contributes 20 to 25% of the amount the festival needs, Ramos said. Besides monetary contributions, the city also usually provides “service support” for the festival, like waste management, EMT availability and police officers for security.

Due to a “lack of support from the community overall,” Ramos noted, 4Ward wasn’t able to raise enough funds. Usually, the city confirms its monetary contributions to the festival in September, Ramos said. Instead, the city told organizers in October that it would not fund the event.

“Our festival is all about diversity and inclusion and we want everyone from all walks of life to feel welcomed,” Ramos said. “I don’t know why that support isn’t there.”

However, there is hope for future Gay8 events. The festival plans to return “stronger than ever” in 2025 by exploring other options for fundraising, Ramos said.

“You have gay couples, you have lesbian couples, you have multicultural couples, you have all walks of life together in one event because we wanted to bring everyone together. That fills my heart in ways I can’t even explain,” she said. “So it really does make me sad that we can’t produce this event and bring it to the community.”

This story was produced with financial support from The Pérez Family Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.