Staff Report
City Council
Item No. 4.A
Meeting Date: September 16, 2026
From: Ryan Hunt, Director of Communications & Engagement Title: Cathedral City Pride Event Name Change, 2027 Date Change, and Contract Amendment
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that City Council:
1. Approve the renaming of Cathedral City LGBT+ Days to Cathedral City Pride, effective with the 2027 event;
2. Approve the change of the 2027 event dates from March 5–7, 2027 to March 12–14, 2027; and
3. Authorize the City Manager to execute an amendment to the existing Event Services Agreement with Montage Agency LLC reflecting the event name and date changes.
BACKGROUND:
Cathedral City LGBT+ Days debuted in 2015 and has grown into one of the City’s signature special events and California’s first Pride celebration of the calendar year. The 2026 event marked the 10th Annual; the 2027 event will be the 11th. The event is anchored in the Downtown Arts & Entertainment District and the Cathedral City Community Amphitheater, and has consistently drawn regional, statewide, and international visitors to Cathedral City.
The event’s dates have shifted within the month of March over the course of its history, having been held in late March in earlier years — including March 25–27 in both 2016 and 2022 — before moving to the first full weekend of March in recent years. Adjusting the weekend to respond to venue availability, sponsor programming, and the regional event calendar is consistent with past practice and has not affected attendance or the event’s standing as California’s first Pride of the year.
Following a competitive Request for Proposals process, City Council awarded the event production contract to Montage Agency LLC, the highest-scoring proposer for this event. The resulting Event Services Agreement, entered into as of April 23, 2025, and fully executed June 23, 2025, covers both the 2026 and 2027 events at not-to-exceed amounts of $85,000 and $90,000, respectively.
The 10th Annual Cathedral City LGBT+ Days, presented by Agua Caliente Casinos, was held March 6–8, 2026 under the theme “CommUNITY Strong.” It was the most successful edition in the event’s history:
More than 12,000 attendees across the weekend, a record for the event Headliner David Archuleta drew the largest single-day crowd in the history of the Cathedral City Community Amphitheater
More than 6,000 spectators at the Sunday Bed Race, Parade, and Vendor Marketplace, with 17 competing teams
The inaugural CommUNITY Strong Walk, raising funds for the Human Rights Campaign
Presentation of the Community Leadership Award from the Human Rights Campaign's national office — a first for Cathedral City — recognizing multiple years of perfect 100 scores on the Municipal Equality Index
Attendee mix of approximately 60% local residents, 20% Southern California visitors, and 20% out-of-state and international guests, with measurable growth in family and ally attendance in the expanded Youth Zone
More than 45 vendors, the first “Guide to Pride” publication, and a Pride Drone Show that drew significant regional and social media attention Agua Caliente Casinos has served as presenting sponsor of the event for three consecutive years through 2026, and discussions for its return in 2027 are in the final stages. The sponsor’s active collaboration on the cross-promotional opportunity described below reflects that continued partnership. Agua Caliente Casinos is also the presenting sponsor of the Cathedral City International Hot Air Balloon Festival, making it among the City’s most significant and sustained special events partners.
DISCUSSION:
Proposed Name Change: Cathedral City Pride
Ten years under the Cathedral City LGBT+ Days name was a successful run that built the event from a local celebration into a regional destination. Staff and the event producer believe the next decade of growth is best served by adopting the name Cathedral City Pride.
A broader tent. “Pride” is the term the community, the traveling public, and the sponsor market already use. The 2026 event demonstrated that the audience is widening — families, allies, youth, faith communities, and civic partners participated at higher rates than in any prior year. A name centered on Pride is more inclusive of that full audience than a name organized around an acronym, and it avoids the ongoing question of which letters the acronym does or does not include. The programming, community focus, and mission of the event do not change.
Honoring the legacy. This recommendation continues the event’s history rather than departing from it. Cathedral City LGBT+ Days was built by an all-volunteer coalition of residents, local businesses, and community leaders who made the case that this City should lead the Valley on visibility and inclusion. That foundation is what the new name is built on, and staff intends to recognize it as a permanent feature of the event going forward — not a one-time gesture.
Founding organizers, past producers, and longtime volunteers will be invited to take part in the 2027 event and the naming transition, and staff will work with the producer to build legacy recognition into future programming.
The Rainbow Crossing. The Mayor Gregory S. Pettis Rainbow Crossing — the first of its kind in the Coachella Valley — remains among the most visible symbols of the City’s commitment to its LGBTQ+ residents and visitors, and the community repainting of the Crossing is already an annual tradition tied to the event. The Crossing was installed the year after the event’s founding, and staff will mark its 10th anniversary at the 2027 event with a commemorative ceremony alongside the annual repainting.
Alignment with an international movement. Cities across the world identify their celebrations by city name plus “Pride” — among them São Paulo, Madrid, Toronto, Amsterdam, Mexico City, Cologne, London, New York, and Sydney. Regionally, the convention is already established with Palm Springs Pride. Adopting Cathedral City Pride places the event within an internationally recognized naming standard shared by more than 300 Pride organizations in over 70 countries connected through InterPride, the international association of Pride organizers, and opens the door to future affiliation, knowledge-sharing, and grant and network opportunities available through that body.
Marketing and discoverability. Visitors planning travel search for “Pride,” not for regionally specific event names. The name change materially improves search visibility, listing placement in national and international Pride calendars, tourism partner distribution, and sponsor recognition — all at no additional cost. The event’s positioning as California’s First Pride of the Year becomes clearer and more marketable under the new name, not weaker.
Transition approach. To protect ten years of accumulated brand equity, staff and the producer will carry a transitional reference — “Cathedral City Pride (formerly Cathedral City LGBT+ Days)” — through the 2027 marketing cycle across the website, social channels, sponsor materials, and press outreach.
Proposed Date Change: March 12–14, 2027
The Event Services Agreement currently establishes March 5–7, 2027 for the 2027 event.
Subsequent to execution of that agreement, Agua Caliente Casinos, the event’s 2026 presenting sponsor, booked the RuPaul’s Drag Race Werq The World 2027 Tour into The Show at Agua Caliente Casino Rancho Mirage for Saturday, March 6, 2027, at 8:00 p.m. — the same evening as what would have been the event’s Saturday headliner performance at the Amphitheater.
The booking was made without knowledge of the conflict. The 2,100-seat show is a national touring production presented by Voss Events in collaboration with World of Wonder and MTV, marking the tour’s tenth anniversary, and it targets precisely the audience the City’s Saturday festival programming is built to serve. Running both on the same night would divide attendance, sponsor attention, and regional media coverage across two venues seven miles apart.
Agua Caliente Casinos brought the conflict forward promptly and has worked cooperatively with the City and the producer toward a solution — consistent with a multi-year partnership that spans both this event and the Hot Air Balloon Festival.
Staff recommends moving the 2027 event one week later, to March 12–14, 2027, which resolves the conflict entirely and produces several affirmative benefits:
Cross-promotion. Agua Caliente Casinos is working with the City’s event producers to finalize plans to use the March 6 performance as a cross-promotional platform for Cathedral City Pride, placing the event in front of a capacity audience of exactly the right demographic one week before gates open. This turns a scheduling conflict into a marketing asset the City could not otherwise purchase. A complementary regional weekend. Rather than competing, the two events create back-to-back weekends of LGBTQ+ programming in the Coachella Valley, extending visitor stays and strengthening the case to lodging and hospitality partners. Preserved positioning. March 12–14 retains the event’s standing as California’s first Pride of the year and remains within peak season for visitors and part-time residents. Additional runway. The one-week shift provides added lead time for the name transition, ticketing, and sponsor activation in the rebrand year.
Staff has confirmed no conflict with other City events or Amphitheater bookings on the proposed dates. The S.C.R.A.P. Gallery’s Butterfly Festival is scheduled for Saturday, March 13, 2027, but that community event wraps at noon — the same hour the all-day festival opens at the Amphitheater, consistent with the 2026 schedule. The same overlap occurred in 2026, and staff worked with Karen Riley and S.C.R.A.P. Gallery to cross-promote both events so families could move directly from one to the other. Staff will take the same approach in 2027.
Contract Amendment
The existing Event Services Agreement with Montage Agency LLC, dated April 23, 2025, covers both the 2026 and 2027 events and remains in full force. Amendment No. 1 has been prepared and is limited to three operative provisions:
Event Name. Wherever the event name appears in the Agreement, it is replaced with Cathedral City Pride.
Event Dates. The 2027 Event dates are changed to March 12–14, 2027. No Other Changes. All other terms, conditions, provisions, rights, and obligations of the Agreement remain unchanged and in full force and effect.
Scope of services, deliverables, performance requirements, insurance, indemnification, sponsorship provisions, liquidated damages, and compensation are all unchanged. The payment milestones in Section 3.2 tied to the number of days before and after the 2027 Event will shift automatically with the new dates; no change to amounts or payment structure is required.
Exhibit “B,” subsection 1.2.1 provides that the City retains the rights to the event name and grants the Service Provider a use license, with the City responsible for enforcement and licensing. The name is therefore the City’s asset, and Council’s approval of the new name carries forward directly into the amendment. Staff will coordinate with the City Attorney on securing the Cathedral City Pride name and associated domains.
The Finance Department has advised that a one-page amendment to the current agreement is sufficient for this purpose and that drafting an entirely new agreement is unnecessary.
Staff concurs, as this approach preserves continuity of the negotiated terms and avoids administrative cost and delay in a year when the producer is already well into 2027 planning.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no additional fiscal impact associated with these actions. The 2027 event compensation of $90,000 is already established in the existing Event Services Agreement with Montage Agency LLC and is included in the adopted FY 2026/2027 Communications and Events budget. The payment schedule under Section 3.2 remains unchanged in amount and structure. Rebranding costs — including creative, website, signage, and collateral — will be absorbed within the existing event marketing scope and producer budget.
Cross-promotional plans in connection with the March 6, 2027, performance are being finalized between Agua Caliente Casinos and the event producers at no cost to the City.
Presenting sponsorship revenue is retained and applied by the Service Provider under Section 6 of Exhibit “A” and does not require amendment of the agreement.
FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN:
This action supports Goal F-3: Promote additional community events and celebrations.
Adopting the Cathedral City Pride name and resolving the 2027 date conflict position the City’s signature spring event for continued growth, expanded regional and international visibility, and broader community participation, building directly on the record-setting results of the 2026 event while preserving and honoring the decade of community work that made it possible.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Executed Cathedral City LGBT+ Days Event Services Agreement with Montage Agency LLC (2026–2027 Events), dated April 23, 2025
2. Proposed Amendment No. 1 to Event Services Agreement — Event Name and 2027 Date Change
3. 2026 Cathedral City LGBT+ Days Event Recap Summary