Rocha started his career at The San Diego Union-Tribune in December 1997 as a features page designer. He oversees coverage of pop music, classical music, visual art, theater, dance, things to do and dining both for online and print. Michael James Rocha is the arts and entertainment editor.
Rocha writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. While I know that this year’s Pride events may again look different, next year’s Pride will be a massive unforgettable celebration.” “San Diego Pride, each of us, and all of humanity need to heal from the toll COVID-19 has taken on all of us. López, San Diego Pride’s executive director, expressed gratitude Tuesday for the community’s support: “I am forever grateful to each and every volunteer, donor, staff and board member, elected official, community member, small business and sponsor who not only stayed with us but actually leaned in and stepped up their support during the most challenging and traumatic years in generations. In making its announcement Tuesday, San Diego Pride said that “this measured approach to reopening allows us and our over 500 partner groups, companies and institutions to adjust to the changing guidelines and public health status in ways that feel best and safest to them while still celebrating Pride.”įernando Z. I am excited for next year when we can all gather together in-person again - there will be even more to celebrate.” “I know how much our community, myself included, look forward to it every year. “I support Pride’s difficult decision to modify this year’s festival in the interest of public safety,” said Nathan Fletcher, chair of the county Board of Supervisors. On Tuesday, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said he supported the decision. This year, the streamed Pride parade - dubbed Pride Live - will be held July 17 in conjunction with “smaller, COVID-19 compliant and scalable in-person satellite events across San Diego County,” according to a statement from San Diego Pride, which said specifics surrounding in-person events will be announced in early June. It changed course a month later when it announced it would instead mount an eight-day virtual Pride celebration that would culminate with a virtual parade. Last April, a month after the pandemic began, San Diego Pride announced it would cancel the summer tradition due to a statewide prohibition on large gatherings to curb the spread of COVID-19. The annual Pride weekend - normally held in July and highlighted by the parade and festival - is the region’s largest civic event, attracting more than 350,000 annually with an economic impact of $26.6 million. For the second year in a row, San Diego Pride will be a mostly virtual event after organizers acknowledged Tuesday that the ongoing COVID-19 crisis does not give it a clear “path to safely produce Pride events at the same immense scale we did prior to the pandemic.”