09/27/2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JOPLIN, MO. September 27th 2026
JOMO Pridefest - “Pride on 66” has announced that beginning in 2027, the annual festival will permanently move from its traditional first weekend of September to October 1–3, 2027, ushering in a new beginning-of-fall tradition for one of Missouri’s Largest FREE 3-Day Pride celebrations.
After careful consideration and listening to the experiences of our vendors, performers, volunteers, attendees, and our community, we have made an important decision about the future of JOMO Pridefest - “Pride on 66!”
Our 2026 festival, held September 4-6th, although highly successful, was met with extreme temperatures, with conditions reaching approximately 100° and heat indexes as high as 110°. Our vendors, attendees, performers, and volunteers, endured those conditions throughout the weekend. Consequently, the extreme heat also resulted in multiple heat-related medical emergencies, including five ambulance transports during Saturday & Sundays festivities.
The extreme conditions had a significant impact on participation as the weekend continued. We were down approximately 10 vendors on Saturday and at least 20 vendors by Sunday attributed to the high temperatures, with attendance also being affected throughout all three days.
While we are incredibly proud of everyone who persevered through those conditions, we recognize that asking our community to continue gathering in extreme September heat is not the future we want for this festival.
We believe the beginning of October is the right time to “Fall Into Pride on 66!” We believe this change will allow for greater participation overall and allow everyone to spend more time enjoying the festival, supporting our vendors, experiencing our entertainment, and celebrating together.
We will work closely with other events and organizations throughout the region to coordinate our new October dates and minimize conflicts with other area festivities. Our goal is for “Pride on 66!” to complement the region's fall event calendar while bringing even more visitors and economic activity to Downtown Joplin.
We want to sincerely thank every vendor, performer, volunteer, first responder, sponsor, and attendee who helped make the 2026 festival possible, despite the extraordinary heat.
This is our investment into providing a better experience for our vendors, volunteers, sponsors and attendees, and creating the kind of festival environment that our community deserves.
Mark your calendars now to, “Fall Into Pride on 66” October 1–3, 2027
