Watch above: A sea of rainbow colours danced through the streets of the downtown core as the 30th annual gay pride parade took over the city. Billy Shields has the full story.
MONTREAL – It was a bright and beautiful Sunday in Montreal – and not just weather wise.
A sea of rainbow colours danced through the streets of downtown as the 30th annual gay pride parade took over our city.
The event started at 1 p.m at the corner of René-Lévesque Boulevard and Guy culminating on Sanguinet Street and the Village.
The parade featured floats from hundreds of local sports teams, cultural and community groups as well as other gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organizations.
WATCH: Raw video from the 30th annual gay pride parade
Organizers estimated that up to 300,000 people participated this year, making it the most successful one yet.
Premier Philippe Couillard, Mayor Denis Coderre, Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair were just some of the politicians present at the festivities.
“Of course we’ll have to be vigilant, of course we still have a lot of fights, but I still think we are an inspiration fro the rest of the world,” said Mayor Denis Coderre.
“We’ve come a long way in Canada we still have work to do, said Federal Liberal Leader, Justin Trudeau.
Read more: Montreal Pride kicks off, inspired by the colour orange
For years, the parade has ended up as a forum for politicians to get their message out but for almost everybody else it serves up an opportunity to let people be themselves.
The event caps off Pride Week, which featured more than 80 events, including free shows at Place Émilie-Gamelin, Pride Day at La Ronde, movies under the stars, the infamous pink dot gathering, and a three-act American opera presented by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s Maestro Kent Nagano.
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