Thousands march through downtown Sunday at Winnipeg Pride Parade

Downtown Winnipeg was taken over by the colours of the rainbow on Sunday afternoon.

Thousands of people marched through the streets for the 31st annual Winnipeg Pride Parade.

The day began with a rally at the Manitoba legislature before participants made their way across Broadway on to Memorial Boulevard. From there, they headed east on York Avenue, then on to Fort Street.

Some participants marched on foot, while others were on floats or in the backs of trucks.

Organizer Jonathan Niemczak said this year’s event was all about inclusiveness.

“Our theme this year is ‘my first pride,’ and that’s sort of celebrating folks’ first pride experiences, whether that’s this year or it happened 10 years ago, and just understanding that everyone has a unique first pride experience,” said Niemczak, the president of Pride Winnipeg.

Holly Peterson was attending her first Pride Parade this year.

“This is amazing,” she said. There’s a smile on everybody’s face, there’s no judgment, there’s no labels, there’s no nothing. It’s just people.”

Peterson said the growth of the event has a lot to do with people becoming more comfortable.

“I don’t know necessarily if the population has grown, it’s just become more comfortable with itself,” she said. “Everybody belongs here, so why not?”

On the other end of the spectrum, Phillip Duncan has only missed one Pride Parade in Winnipeg over the years.

“To walk down Portage Avenue and walk down the parade route every year and see all the people that come out to support us in the community, it’s very overwhelming.”

Donald Schattner was attending just his third parade this year, but he said he’s seen the participation level go up in that time.

“It’s definitely gotten bigger. More colour, more fun, more acceptance,” he said “What’s not to love? Seeing more and more of the families come with their kids regardless of their orientation and just bringing the kids to this warm atmosphere … the vibe, you can’t beat the vibe.”

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Niemczak wasn’t sure exactly how many people marched this year, but he did say it was likely in the tens of thousands, comparable to last year’s parade.

“Given the size of our city and if you look at the turnout and the amount of involvement we have from the community, from organizations, from our government, there’s a lot of support, a lot of interest,” Niemczak said. “And I think that just shows our Prairie spirit that we have here.”

The Pride Festival at The Forks was to follow the parade. It wraps up at 7 p.m.