O Canada Pride!

The first week of July, and Victoria was awash in celebration.  

First came Canada Day.  

Thousands gathered downtown, on the lawn of the Legilsature and along the inner harbor, for a national pride party.

  

 

 Teens clustered on Government Street, and Victoria’s police talked the talk.

Keeping the peace until fireworks filled the sky over Victoria.

Six days later, the annual Gay Pride Parade lit up Victoria with an eye-filling explosion of camp and color.

Here’s a curb’s eye view, as the parade passes by.

First Nation participants stepped out.

Friends found each other.

It was individual expression, in the service of inclusion.

There were kids…

Men in kilts…

…and men on stilts.

Unions marched…

…and businesses drove.

Including a float from my downtown hair salon.

The woman on the right, I believe, is getting her hair washed.

There was politics…

…and religion.

And what float would follow religion?  

Only in Victoria…

After saving the breast for last (sorry–had to do it)…the parade melded into an everyone join stroll thru James Bay village to the Pride Festival.

Welcomed along the way by folks in a senior citizen center…

…and others.

The crowd was pulled along by a big-voiced singer on a flatbed, blasting music.

The parade approached the festival grounds, with a last burst of music and confetti…

…and the man on stilts bringing up the rear.