Silicon Valley Pride Festivities kick off in South Bay ahead of weekend parade

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Thousands are set to celebrate in the South Bay this weekend for Silicon Valley Pride Parade and Festival. Before the weekend, an entire week of events is underway from a Drag Cooking showdown to a pride edition of the famous Pobladores night market.

"We think, Pride should be celebrated, 365 days in a year, and we tend to uplift that by organizing various events, throughout the year," said Saldy Suriben with Silicon Valley Pride.

Each weekday is a Pride celebration that organizers hope brings a wide-ranging impact.

"We're hoping that attendees will support local businesses in terms of staying at their hotels, eating at their restaurant, and hopefully, help the local San Jose economy," Suriben said.

Something downtown San Jose businesses are banking on.

"We're really excited, about this activation, which will bring another 10,000 plus people to downtown," said Alex Stettinski, CEO of the San Jose Downtown Association.

RELATED: 'Live Out Proud': Silicon Valley Pride Parade and Festival returns to San Jose

Silicon Valley Pride Festival kicks off at 6 p.m. Saturday evening and goes through 11 p.m. A parade kicks things off Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

Silicon Valley Pride week follows a series of events that have kept Downtown San Jose bustling including San Jose Jazz Fest, GalaxyCon and many others.

"We had so far, the most successful summer since COVID absolutely, hands down," Stettinski said, "The numbers are so up. So many people are doing so many fun things in downtown."

The summer success is expected to continue with San Jose State University not just bringing in a new school year, but all new housing following the opening of Spartan Village on the Paseo last week.

"Four hundred plus students walking back and forth from campus, to their living facilities," Stettinski said, "Along the way, there's retail, two of the pop up clusters that we just opened on the Paseo is there. They're already reporting great, great business because of the students, that frequent the places."

MORE: Thousands celebrate love at 54th annual San Francisco Pride Parade

The 54th San Francisco Pride Parade is one of the the largest LGBTQ celebrations in the world and this year was no different.

But this week and weekend the excitement is centered around Silicon Valley Pride, not just for the business it will bring but the sense of community and belonging.

"It's just a way for us to be our authentic self and celebrate, being the LGBT community," Suriben said.

For more information, on this year's events, click here.