Or rather, pre-Pride parade. The parade route is usually very crowded and this year I decided not walk it. Instead, I mingled with the parade participants who gathered on Bloor Street in preparation for the event. What you’ll find in this blog posts are a lot of pictures of people, people laughing and smiling and enjoying the day. I hope I have captured some of the energy and spirit of the occasion.
below: A temporary rainbow LOVE sign

below: The orange guy from the fruit group!

below: One of the floats parked on Rosedale Valley Road. Toronto in balloons, ready and waiting for the parade to start. The calm before the storm.

below: When I first approached this group, the man in the middle had a rainbow flag in front of him. As I took the picture he flung the flag to his back and hammed it up for the camera. Thanks!

below: These boots are made for walking, but that bike sure looks great!

below: Apparently, wearing large amounts of feathers on your back is quite warm. Not so good on a hot day!

below: The solution – water of course. Super soakers and the spraying of water is a big part of the pride parade.

below: The three coloured Transgender Pride flag – the stereotype colours of light blue for baby boys and light pink for baby girls with a white stripe in the middle for those who identify as neither.

below: #ShareLove wash the hashtag used by Telus and the people on their float. I love the glitter and the purple hearts!

below: Puppets from Kids Help Phone Line make an appearance at the parade with a little help from some friends. The one T-shirt reads “Tell us about your #firstpride”

below: Well, what can I say? It’s Pride.

below: Nonchalantly blowing bubbles. Someone looks unimpressed.

below: I managed to find the saddest person on Bloor Street.

below: Thanks to these two women who showed off their T-shirts for the camera. #ProudBecause was Fido’s campaign for Pride. Each person on the team had a T-shirt like this, and each person had filled in the white rectangles with their personal messages.

below: Spectators waiting. One is keeping cool.

below: The Liberals had a large presence, most of them in red T-shirts. They congregated on Asquith Green early on and there were many in the staging area on Bloor Street. As the world knows, Justin Trudeau walked in the parade with Toronto Mayor John Tory and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. As an aside, I may be the only person who didn’t get a photo of Trudeau!
When the parade started, I left Bloor Street, heading south on Ted Rogers Way then back towards the Hayden Street entrance to Bloor subway station. Somewhere along that route (and I can’t remember exactly where) I saw a small group of PC/Tories with their signs walking towards the parade.

below: Tomodachi is Japanese for ‘friends’.

below: The Federation of Canadian Naturists were also walking in the parade.












