‘Wonderful Celebration:’ Pride London Parade brings community together

Sights and sounds of the Pride London Parade.

With Londoners lining Queen’s Ave, more than 100 groups took part in the 30th annual Pride London Parade.

“A presence in London is just so important,” said Fabrice Morin, president of Canada Life who were the presenting sponsor for the parade.

“We have a great group of colleagues here in London being part of the community. Today is about showing up for colleagues within the company, but it is also being a member in the community more broadly in London”.

Morin estimated more than 200 employees were walking in the parade, all of them wearing red shirts.

The weather cooperated with temperatures in the low 20’s and the smoke was gone which made for the perfect day for the festivities

“It is a celebration of a group of community members that historically have been very marginalized that can’t be visible,” said Robyn Hodgson, president of Pride London.

“It is that point in the year when folks that that haven’t found that level of acceptance, and you can hear the acceptance that they’ve got. It’s not just from within the LGBT community, but also the broader community as well, and just absolute acceptance across Ontario”.

Mayor Josh Morgan celebrated the huge turnout and commended the festival organizers.

“They’ve done a great job of organizing this and all the other activities associated with Pride in our city,” said Morgan.

“What a wonderful celebration with everybody being welcome. It’s a huge opportunity for everybody to march together to support each other and to really show what London is all about. If you’ve never been, you’ve got to come down to one in the future because it’s such a great event”.

CTV London, Pure Country and Virgin Radio had floats in the parade with personalities walking.

“It is cute when the kids come out, they have bubbles and they’re handing out all the prizes and swag,” said KP, from Virgin Radio Mornings.

She was there with both Backstage Ben and Jeff Kelly.

“It’s a perfect day to get out and see a lot of friends in the city and community and celebrate inclusivity,” said Jeff.

“It’s celebrating love, and joy and it’s my daughter’s favorite day of the year,” added Ben.