Toronto Tuesday 01.22
Volume 1, Edition 22
Pride 2009
A street on Church-Wellesley gaybourhood.
Toronto’s Pride week 2009 festivities culminated with the grand Gay Pride Parade on Sunday, June 28. The parade is among the largest in the world and is a cultural event of the city and the country.
The Church street community center draped in pride colors
It was raining in the morning but that did not subdue the crowds who thronged the streets. Some were wearing protective rain gear, others simply enjoyed the rain. However, as soon as the parade started, the sky turned blue with plenty of sunshine. 
Suddenly umbrellas were replaced with sunglasses and sunscreen.
Water gun battle with the revellers who were armed with thousands of cameras
Pride week brings out lots of artsy activities such as performances, exhibits, theater, dance, music and other creative cultural expressions. Primarily focused around the Church and Wellesley gay village, the pride week attracts thousands, with almost a million attending the final parade on Sunday.
Prime location indeed!
I saw tons of East Asian and South Asian tourists – aunties and uncles, babies on strollers and hordes of curious Chinese tourists. Clicking pictures of everything they saw, posing with drag queens, clowns and men in costumes, such as someone dressed as a Roman soldier, or a condom, everyone was clearly having a fun time.
Marching ahead
The parade ended by 16:30 and was followed by street parties that ended around midnight. There was street food, beer gardens, and extremely crowded streets that reminded me of peak rush hour traffic in Mumbai. Streets were littered with colorful post-parade fare that might take days to clean since the city’s garbage workers are currently on a strike. It seems that the union deliberately chose the pride week to go on strike, thinking that it would be a bargaining strategy. Thankfully the city did not give in to the outrageous demands of unionised workers.
Proud Police car
Pride week is extremely inclusive and sees participation from young and old, black and white, straight and queer and it feels like a carnival or an Indian mela. It is broadcasted live on television channels, sees participation from political parties, religious agencies (churches), government (municipalities, police), restaurants, transport companies, charities, non-profits, private and public organizations and a host of other community stakeholders. The city of Toronto pumps a lot of money in organization of this festival since it is the largest tourist attraction for the city.
Happiness in the air
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Hope you had fun in the parade!
↵A Roman soldier? A condom? So what did you wear?
It was absolute fun! Ah, I wore shirt and jeans, nothing fancy, lol. But I had beads and some ribbons!
↵Not bad! The crowd here in Bangalore was 1/1000th of that. Love the cop patro car image
↵Thanks Gopal! The fact that there are parades is encouraging in itself!
↵The pictures of the crowd look so full of energy!
↵Indeed, it was a frenzy!
People were just happy, I’ve never seen so many people smiling and enjoying before!
↵Yay..fun time! May the creativity and cultural activities continue.
↵Thanks Celine! It was so much fun!
↵Looks like a lot of fun. Interesting note about the strike being planned to coincide with the parade week!
↵I know! Had they started the strike a month in advance, the chances of getting the city to toe their line would have been easier. But only a week in advance, they didn’t have as much leverage as expected! The parade went on smoothly.
↵That must have been fun!
↵Oooh, indeed it was a blast! It was kinda unbelievable, everyone seemed so happy and cheerful!
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