Vancouver Pride 2023
After a 3-year absence, I returned to this year's Vancouver Pride Parade on August 6th. I only did the parade last weekend as I don't think anything bear/leather was going on. One major change this year was a completely new parade route, replacing the one that has been on Robson and Denman Streets since 2008 (it used to be just on Denman during my earlier days.) It starts around Davie & Denman and goes all along Pacific Blvd, ending around the Concord Pacific area where the festival was moved too. According to the Vancouver Pride Society, this increases the route from 2.7km to 3.1km. I've mixed feelings about this change, but we'll see what people say about it.
I didn't do much on Friday and Saturday. Saturday I took my older brother-in-law to pick up supper at Popeye's and a couple of blizzards from Dairy Queen on the way home. I had some chicken sandwich meal with a strawberry cream pie. I spent time downstairs watching my older sister play a PSone game on PS5 that I haven't seen her play in years: the first Hot Shots Golf game. I'm sure we still own the original CD release from over 20 years ago. Playing it on PS5's subscription service, she can rewind the game if a shot doesn't go her way. I kidded that she wishes she could do that 20 years ago and she agreed. Before I went upstairs for the rest of the night, I watched a couple episodes of The Nostalgia Critic on YouTube: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Simpsons Movie. Before bed, I sent out a message to Daddy Norm asking if he knew where the leathermen were going to meet up before the parade as I assumed he would be with them this year like most years. I heard nothing back and later found out, he was not in the parade.
The next day, I got out of bed at 9am and got ready to head out. I checked my messages and didn't find any replies so I texted Daddy Dave and asked if he was going in the parade and he later replied that he wasn't this year. I wore my leather rebel cap, vest, and Wesco Highliners. I put my chilled water bottle in my backpack plus my camera too, then I drove to Maywood School by Metrotown and arrived before 11am. There was a parking spot by some shade so it was perfect. Walking halfway to the skytrain station, I intercepted Pat who was going to meet me at my car. We took the skytrain to Waterfront so we could transfer to the Canada Line and get off at Yaletown - Roundhouse. With the previous route, we would get off at Burrard station. Pat stopped into a nearby Starbucks to get a drink. While waiting for him, I was texting Ben on the BLUF app to let him know we were on our way. We met him and a friend of his named Steve on the corner of Burrard & Davie and it was only a short walk west to Pacific Blvd. It took over 20 minutes past noon for the parade to finally reach us.
The Dykes on Bikes arrived first, and a few minutes after they were past us, the Pride Society came with the flags. Compared to when my Knights did it, the Pride Society was pathetic: not in unison, no proper protocol; but they had the volunteers, which was the only advantage over us. I took no pictures of them, because... why? The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence came not long into the parade and... I wasn't that impressed by the leather turnout. I should be grateful that I didn't walk over a kilometer and back to try and take pictures of them setting up! I still took pictures anyways, but it pales in comparison to the leather contingent of previous years.
The usual marchers were in the parade. A big change this year to make the parade more "greener" is that they banned big trucks and floats. Idiots. I had my water to dehydrate me and shared a bit with Ben who was likely sweating in his leathers, though it was overcast and not too hot.
I couldn't stay for the whole parade as I had to be back in Surrey by 4pm. I was hoping to see the Leatherdaddy that was usually in the parade carrying his rainbow flag, but I don't think he was in it this year. I don't recall seeing pictures of him last year either (I couldn't attend last year as I was in SF for Dore Alley). Has he retired from doing it for over 20 years? I hope not, as he is one of the main reasons why I stay and watch. I took the last pictures of the four of us before walking east on Burrard. Pat was staying behind so he can go to the festival, Steve I think stayed to watch a little more, and Ben returned to his car. By the United and Baptist churches on Nelson, I ran into Daddy Dan of BLUF, wearing some of his leather (WOOF!) He was on his way to the Pumpjack Pub. I found out from him that he heard that Vancouver Men in Leather couldn't be in the parade since they weren't a registered society (they are a social group) and the VPS was going to charge them an insane amount of insurance. This was why they piggybacked off the Sisters. I said it doesn't much matter as there were hardly that many leathermen and pups who joined in compared to a few years ago. We parted and I stopped into the McDonalds near the station for a needed piss. I got a buffalo chicken snack wrap and a strawberry passion fruit drink to tide me over until dinner. I took the skytrain back to Metrotown, relaxing my feet as my boots were punishing on them. I returned to my car and drove to London Drugs at Market Crossing. I grabbed another cold drink: Diet Cherry Pepsi. But I needed to get a special card for my folks because it was... their 50th Wedding Anniversary! Technically is was July 28th, but celebrating it was moved to August 6th because I was in SF the previous weekend. I drove back to Surrey and met up with my family at The Keg. I'll mention that in my monthly entry soon.
So Vancouver Pride wasn't much worth it this year. While it was nice to be among friends to watch it, the lack of bears and leathermen made it boring. I've mixed feelings on the new route too.
Here is well edited footage of the parade by someone on YouTube:
Click to viewAnd another edited video of the parade: