The grey clouds parted and made way for a splash of colour in Toronto as the Pride Parade got underway, in front of a crowd of one million revelers celebrating the city's sexual diversity.
Though the forecasts called for rain all day Sunday, the skies cleared at around 2 p.m. just as the parade began to snake its way around the city's gay village.
Temperatures were expected to hover around 23 degrees throughout the afternoon with clouds and light, drizzling rain for the rest of the day -- but nothing could dampen the spirits of those attending the parade, which this year had a fitting theme of "Can't stop, won't stop."
"It never rains on the Pride parade," NDP Leader Andrea Horwath told reporters as she waved to the crowd from her float.
Today's event marks the 29th year in a row Toronto has hosted a Pride parade. Pride Week is a huge tourist draw with participants pumping more than $80 million into the city's economy.
But the Pride parade is about more than just a fantastic street party. Participants of Pride week say it is about raising awareness about human rights that affect the queer community.
"We've still got a long way to go," said one male participant. "We've got a lot of rights but there is still a lot of social negativity that still exists."
Several elected officials participated in the parade, including Toronto Mayor David Miller, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and NDP Leader Jack Layton, who walked in Toronto's first-ever Pride parade.
Several roads were closed off to traffic to accommodate Sunday's parade, but police said that vehicles would be allowed to travel through most of that area by about 6 p.m.
Sunday's parade was an enormous success despite a city worker strike that has minimized services such as garbage collection.
Garbage aftermath
Sunday marked the seventh day of the civic strike but the city's non-unionized members pitched in to help clean up after the parade with the help of some private contractors.
"We're moving forward with the standard type of cleanup that we would do after a major event like this," city spokesperson Rob Andrusevich told CTV Toronto. "We're going to have close to 100 city staff here today."
Nonetheless, trash bins along the parade route overflowed with refuse and litter was scattered on sidewalks.
"It's stinky and it's disgusting and it's not very good for the city's image," said Kathy Teny, a Brantford resident who came to Toronto to watch the parade.
City officials say they're confident they can have the area cleaned up by Monday morning.
"Typically the clean up would take five hours after the parade under normal circumstances," Andrusevich said. "This year we're moving ahead with more staff but less mechanical equipment so it might take a little bit longer but the job is going to get done."
Picketers were also on hand Sunday as union members set up barriers, preventing private contractors from taking part in the cleanup.
Toronto hosts one of the biggest Pride celebrations in the world. Pride Week has recently been named Canada's best festival by the Canadian Special Events Industry.
With reports from CTV Toronto's Reshmi Nair and Michelle Dube
