Coming from the Caribbean, the whole idea and celebration of Pride still hasn’t spread as far and wide back home as it has in places like here in North America.
Pride, and the LGBTQ+ community are celebrated in such a big way in countries like Canada and America, so I told myself I needed to continue having the complete North American experience, part of which is exposing myself to new things, and decided to attend the Toronto pride Parade for the first time.
I had THE most amazing time.
Personally, I think it’s really important to have an open mind when going to other countries, and once you’re comfortable, take part in as many events as you can.
You can end up having so many amazing experiences.
That’s how I felt the entire time at the parade.
The whole atmosphere is one filled of such joy and celebration. Everyone just being themselves with no kind of judgment whatsoever but rather backed up by endless means of support and cheers.
It’s basically a city-wide party, starting with a HUGE pride parade downtown.
It felt like I was on a movie set seeing all the different people parading through Toronto, different outfits, hair colours, so much warmth, so much love.
There was even a nudist group that was part of the parade.
I didn’t attend any of the parties, just the parade, but there are events happening not just within Toronto, but in the GTA all month long, as June is pride month.
On the day of the parade there were parties going all until 2am.
You’re also not just limited to the parade, as there’s so much you can do whether you identify with the LGBTQ+ community, or you don’t, but want to support, or you’d like to learn more about the community itself on the whole.
Being in June, Toronto’s warming up a lot, so if you’ll be attending the parade, make sure to top up that sunscreen and carry extra water because let me tell you, this Toronto sun is no joke.
Toronto summer heat gives the Caribbean heat much competition, and this is coming from someone who was born and raised in the heat. You'd swear we were in the middle of Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Carnival Monday the way that heat was beating down on us in the middle of June.
You’ll also be standing up for a long time too, so I also recommend wearing your comfiest shoes!
Depending on how long you’re planning to stay, you can never go wrong with a portable charger either.
Get there early to get a good spot to stand up so you can see as much of the parade as possible. I'd recommend around 11am-12pm.
Most of the parade floats and performances are on trucks, but not everything is, for example there were persons dancing in the road as they passed by which was a bit more difficult to see, so to enhance the chances of seeing everything, get there early enough.
The subway is the best means at getting downtown where the parade is held because certain roads get blocked off for the parade route.
My last piece of advice is to not take your eyes off the parade, a simple head turn and you can miss so much!
It’s also a great time to go all out, the outfit, the makeup, anything. Enjoy yourself in the celebratory, judgement free environment! I personally tried a little pride-inspired look with my makeup.
Just be prepared for big crowds and packed trains, it is a HUGE event.
This year I got to see one of my favourite drag queens ever from Rupaul's drag race, Season 11's runner up, and the host of Canada's drag race - the amazing Brooke Lynn Hytes.
Like this is THE Brooklyn Hytes, just a car distance away from me.
I've never met a celebrity before so this was probably my closest encounter ever.
It's almost like she's pointing at me in the picture, telling me "everybody say love."
As an avid RuPaul's drag race fan, to come so close to seeing her, I was in awe.
It was just amazing to witness that same element of celebration I'd only ever seen on TV given where I'm from, to see it in person, I had the most amazing time.
If I got to witness ballroom performances in person, you know some live vogueing, even a duckwalk, I probably would've passed out from excitement.
At the time too, I didn't even notice, but going back through my photos, I realized that some of the queens who appeared on season 1 of Canada's drag race, even the winner herself, Priyanka, was on one of the floats that I snapped some pictures of!
Want a glimpse into Pride Parade 2019? Check out my TikTok Video "Toronto Pride Parade 2019 in 60 seconds!" Tap here to watch it!
THINGS TO NOTE:
🏳️🌈 Price/Entry fee: FREE! - For the Pride Parade (there may be additional fees attached to other pride events you may want to attend)
🏳️🌈 Time of year: The month of June! (Pride Month) (The Parade is around mid-late June.)
🏳️🌈 Average amount of time expected to spend here: 3-4+ hours
🏳️🌈 Location: Downtown Toronto (And other parts where pride events may be held around Toronto) The parade this year started from Church Street and Bloor Street East.
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