More than 1 million attended Toronto’s 31st Pride parade
Posted July 3, 2011 6:23 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The 31st annual Pride Parade began around 2 p.m. on Sunday, as revelers in costumes and on floats celebrated in the sunshine.
More than one million people attended this year’s event, including former mayors David Miller and Barbara Hall, and Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke – but Toronto’s current mayor, Rob Ford, won’t be among them. A white truck parked on Gould Street had a large poster of Waldo (of “Where’s Waldo?” fame) next to an equally large drawing of Ford.
Ford has insisted his family tradition of spending the Canada Day weekend at the cottage will take precedence on Sunday — but the mayor has also avoided other Pride events, including the official flag-raising at City Hall.
While Ford’s absence didn’t have much of an effect on participants and observers of the march, a few in the crowd were disappointed he didn’t show up.
“He’s a representative of our city and we’ve had mayors here for years,” one man said.
The parade – which had more than 100 floats – began at Bloor and Church streets and wrapped up at Gerrard and Church – but the party goes on all night, with Church Street closed down until 6 a.m. on Monday.
