So we wanted to give folks as many options and opportunities as possible, for as much as possible, as long as possible and keep those events free and open to the public because we've all been through it this year.

And with the Delta variant, that is super understandable. Some folks just aren't feeling safe and ready to come out yet. Some people aren't able to get vaccinated. Include some virtual components because some folks aren't yet vaccinated. 'Rather than bring together a quarter million folks in one space, we said, okay, we're going to find venues all throughout the county. As the vaccines rolled out and Pride's July event date approached, the organization honed in on that middle ground. They considered a trio of potential budgets for various stages of lockdown, reopening or something in the middle. As we were also enduring the impacts of COVID-19, trying to foresee the future was nearly impossible,' López said. 'While we're trying to plan and prepare, we're also losing loved ones and friends and being severed from our employment and the places and people that we love. Plus, community-wide, there's a lot of grief. While the San Diego event industry has begun to barrel ahead full-steam, large-scale projects like Pride didn't really have enough time for the necessary advance planning.