The 36th Annual Vancouver Pride Parade took place under blazing skies as more than half a million people lined the parade route to watch and celebrate diversity with the thousands of parade participants. For the second year as an ‘official civic event’ the parade went off smoothly and efficiently, and depending on where one was watching, lasted about 3 hours.
The parade is truly a celebration, while still mindful of the quest for equality and diversity that has come before, as the participants and viewers kept the atmosphere light and entertaining all along the parade route. The parade began on Robson Street at Thurlow, heading West to Denman Street, then following Denman to Beach Avenue finally wrapping up at Sunset Beach, the site of the Pride Festival & Market. Traditionally kicked off by the “Dykes On Bikes” followed by this year’s Grand Marshalls; Ted Northe (Posthumus), Gwen Haworth & Dean Nelson. Then a wide range of entries took their turn walking or rolling along the streets, corporate partners like TD Canada Trust, Stoli Vodka, London Drugs, Winners/Homesense joined community organizations like McLaren Housing Society, LOUD Business and Canadian Cancer Society. Nearly every media outlet from the city and all major political parties from civic, provincial and federal levels also made their way through the city.
As the parade wound up, and the public followed the final float away, the clean up crew was close behind tearing down the fencing, collecting trash and cleaning the street, leaving behind just memories of another great Vancouver Pride Parade.