Photo by Mike Maloney/London Community News
Mother Nature smiled down on the Pride London Festival Parade by withholding a downpour until the last float had crossed the finishing line of this year’s route.
Crowds of people lined the streets to watch the gaily coloured floats travel from the Western Fair grounds to festival site at the intersection of King and Clarence streets. The parade route followed King Street this year due to construction on Dundas Street.
Although the parade is in its 29th year, this year marked the first time members of the London Police Service and London Fire Department took part, along with the notable presence of London Mayor Joe Fontana. His participation is seen by some as a turning point in the acceptance of the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
While Fontana may be more accepting, what would a pride parade be without a handful of protestors. Before the floats arrived downtown, supporters and protestors, staged kitty-corner from one another at Wellington and King streets, exchanged barbs and cat calls. Eventually the small group of protestors was surrounded by a larger crowd of supporters and while the two sides may never agree, they managed to stand side-by-side relatively peacefully as the parade continued.
