One of Vancouver’s largest events of the year drew hundreds of thousands to downtown.
The 37th annual Vancouver Pride Parade began at noon on Robson and Bute. Over 140 floats are in the parade (including one from Global BC), which heads west on Robson before heading south on Denman, eventually winding up on Beach Avenue where a festival takes place.
The theme for this year’s parade is Gender Superheroes.
“Today is a huge celebration. We’re so exciting about building a little parade today,” says Tim Richards, Vancouver Pride Society President.
“Little” may be underselling it. Over 650,000 people were expected to attend what organizers say is the fifth largest Pride Parade in the world. An additional 150 community groups and businesses will also be at the festival on Beach Avenue.
While many politicians took part in the parade, including federal Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau and Green Party leader Elizabeth May, one group that didn’t attend iwas the BC Liberal Party and Premier Christy Clark. The party did not sign a pledge calling for new legislation to protect transgender people – a new requirement for organizations taking part this year.
WATCH: Chrissy Taylor, vice-president of the Vancouver Pride Society, joins Sonia Sunger to talk about why the BC Liberal Party is not going to be participating in this year’s Pride Parade.
“We have a waiting list of people who want to be in the parade, which is fabulous…we’ve enjoyed tremendous support,” says Richards.
TransLink has added 14 extra trains on the Expo and Millennium Lines to help get people in and out of the downtown core.
GALLERY: Sights from the 2015 Pride Parade. Photos by Jennifer Palma/Global News