Pridefest 2008
June 29th, 2008 by Dan Klarmann
Today we biked over to see the 2½ hour long gay pride parade. “You’re here, you’re queer, we’re used to it.” About 40,000 other people came to see the parade along the edge of my neighborhood today.
You can see the crowds looking down Grand Boulevard. Many people were festively dressed. There were many couples of every gender combination, and many pets and some children.
See Mayor Slay at the head of the Gay Pride parade, waving under a mural of Jesus on the Messiah Lutheran school.
Did you ever notice the yellow lilies in the median on Grand? Here, the throng standing on the southbound side watch the bees in the northbound lanes.
And it is no surprise to have a heavily cheered and well attended block of Obama supporters in this parade.
Yes, there were beads, beads, beads!
And the scattered showers failed to scatter the crowds:
Even unsheltered riders in the parade were undeterred by the rain:
And the rain passed, and a good time was had by all:
And after the parade, there were the stage shows and the booths. Food, drinks, finance, churches, travel, home improvement, wearables, and more.
It was a colorful day in one of our landmark parks, this 28th annual Gay Pride Festival in Saint Louis, Missouri. On the eastern edge of this “red state”.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Dan: My family and I also stopped by St. Louis Pridefest today. I’d bet you’re correct about those attendance numbers–the sprawling park grounds (of Tower Grove Park) were jammed full of many kinds of people. This was not a celebration for only gays. It was a celebration by both gays and non-gays who were attending to show their interest in advocating tolerance.
Dozens of corporations were also present, further evidence that America is in the process of moving past the bigotry (though there is a long way to go).
June 30th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Totally irrelevant, but I’m noticing that Dan used the word “biked”.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I’m too lazy to write “bicycled”, but not too lazy to do it. Btw: My well worn saddle soaks up rain like a sponge and holds it for hours. Ick.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I just meant to say that you said “biked” and not “cycled.”