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Over the following decades, the festival evolved. It started with humble roots in 1970: A march down Polk Street followed by a “gay-in” at Golden Gate Park. With a $3.5 million budget and an annual attendance of around one million people, it’s considered to be the largest gathering of LBGTQ people and allies in the country. San Francisco Pride won’t be holding its annual march this month, the second straight year the parade has been impacted by the pandemic. But many say the flag is imbued with an even more powerful purpose: to serve as a beacon of safety and of hope. The original eight stripes were deliberately designed to represent pride and power of the expansive community. It’s also one of the most iconic flags flown globally. It flies at the corner of Castro and Market streets, a sign of The City’s storied history as a bedrock of LGBTQ life. San Francisco’s Rainbow Flag holds a prominent spot in San Francisco’s collective identity. He did not trademark the design, hoping instead it would be replicated and easy to spread around the country and the world as a symbol of collective action. Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco activist, artist and LGBTQ+ advocate, stitched the original flag for the 1978 Pride Parade in United Nations Plaza. Thought to be lost due to water damage while in storage nearly 40 years ago, a piece of the original Rainbow Flag, which helped define the LGBTQ civil rights movement, was discovered in 2019. An important part of San Francisco history is finally coming home.