This year’s Vancouver Pride Parade is going to be hotter than ever — literally, so bring your water soakers and sunscreen.
With the temperature expected to reach 27 C — and feel like 35 C with the humidex — large crowds are expected to line up the parade route on Sunday and maybe even top last year’s attendance of more than half a million people.
“We’ve grown exponentially every year since 2005 and we expect this year to be exactly the same,” said Vancouver Pride Society president Ken Coolen.
The type of the people attending has changed too and Coolen said the parade is now an all ages event.
“We have found that there are families, grandparents, and everyone in between … ethnic diversity and it’s not just the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered but a lot of straight allies that come down to watch the celebration,” he said.
Coolen also said that Americans like heading up to attend Vancouver Pride especially people from Washington State, Oregon and even California.
The growth of the event has also affected the financial aspect of the pride parade with more companies looking to spend money advertising during Pride.
“We’re finding that our event is becoming more and more recognized by a lot of companies and corporations who are looking to support public events here in Vancouver,” said Coolen.
