Toronto Pride Parade 2013

I went to the Pride Parade again last Sunday. This is probably the fourth time (or so) that I've gone. I pretty much know what to expect now. You have to get there fairly early to get a good spot if you want to take pictures; you have to keep your eyes out for squirt guns if you don't want your camera to get wet; and people are always going to squeeze in tight beside you. So it helps if you're fairly tall if you want to get reasonably decent shots.

This was the 33rd year they've held the parade here in Toronto. This year they extended the route slightly. In the past it would start on Yonge at Bloor and go down to College Street. This year they extended the route down to Dundas. Most of the time I'd find a spot on the west side of Yonge a bit north of College. This was because you get the sun on the faces of the participants when you're on the west side and because I'd always arrive kind of late after coming from church service. So I'd always find a spot near the end of the route.

This year I got to the parade by around 1:00 p.m. An hour before it officially started. I found a nice spot south of College. There were some trees along the median in front of College Park where I thought it would be nice to sit because it was shaded. But there was no space. So I staked out a spot along the barricade just south of there.

Since the parade probably wouldn't get down to me for another hour and a half I took out my umbrella, sat down against the fence and had a siesta in the shade. Unfortunately, by the time the parade participants got down to where I was standing, the shadow from the new condo at Yonge and Gerrard was right over top of me. So the photos I took at the beginning had a blue cast to them (until the shadows passed).

The parade was fine. It always starts off with the folks on their motorcycles. It make sense because they're the fastest parade goers. Then a variety of colourful floats and walking groups go by usually accompanied by lively dance music. That's always fun.

I've always maintained that this parade is much better organized than the Caribbean Carnival (formerly Caribana). They always have huge gaps between their floats while this one is pretty steady. I guess I'm just getting used to it, so there are no real surprises (even the wrinkly, old, naked guys). Even though there are new entrants, I've noticed a lot of returnees. It's cool to see them again, though some of them do need to get new costumes.

This year some of the notable participants were Ontario premier, Kathleen Wynne (the first sitting premier to participate in the parade); Justin Trudeau, the newly elected federal Liberal leader; Andrea Horwath, the leader of the provincial NDP; and leader of the official opposition in Ottawa, NDP leader, Tom Mulcair.