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Tens of hundreds of Calgarians lined ninth Avenue on Sunday morning for the return of the Calgary Satisfaction Parade and Pageant, celebrating the town’s LGBTQ2S+ neighborhood in particular person for the primary time since 2019.

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The parade marks the top of Calgary’s first full-tilt Satisfaction Week in three years after each the 2020 and 2021 occasions had been scaled again and largely held on-line because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“(This) actually marks the event of what Satisfaction is all about, which is a neighborhood coming collectively,” stated Calgary Satisfaction communications coordinator Zac Remple. “We haven’t actually been in a position to actually try this for 2 years, so now, it’s a chance, it’s a return and it’s one thing actually value celebrating.”

The parade noticed greater than 160 entries traverse downtown Calgary’s ninth Avenue between sixth Road S.W. and 4th Road S.E. — on par with pre-pandemic numbers, in line with organizers — with hundreds gathered alongside the sidewalks, most dressed up in vivid colors and donning rainbow-laden Satisfaction flags to have a good time the event.

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Many attendees stated they had been glad to be again to absorb Satisfaction in particular person, noting the occasion’s progress and evolution over its many years in Calgary.

“I’ve been coming down for 20 years, and to look at it develop over time and all of the totally different areas, it’s expanded a lot and turn into so household oriented. It’s implausible,” stated Richard Winikrcyk, attending the parade along with his soon-to-be husband, Robert St. Jean.

“(Twenty years in the past) there have been solely a pair thousand individuals there … Through the years, it grew and we’ve been heard and right here we’re at 100,000 individuals.”

Police and different emergency personnel had been current at every intersection alongside the parade route, together with bolstered safety personnel employed by Calgary Satisfaction itself. Final month, organizers cancelled Montreal’s Satisfaction Parade because of safety considerations stemming from an absence of volunteers.

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“As a neighborhood, we’re used to it; there are all the time protesters on the parade and we’re absolutely anticipating there to be protesters this 12 months,” stated Brit Nickerson, supervisor of communications for Calgary Satisfaction. “There’s all the time going to be hate and our hope right now is that every one the oldsters celebrating outweighs any hate that is likely to be current right here.”

Marshalling the parade this 12 months was a bunch of LGBTQ2S+ refugees, representing a number of nations together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Ukraine. Organizers it was vital to incorporate neighborhood members from all walks of life within the festivities and to attract consideration to the continued combat for human rights around the globe.

“For us, they actually signify the braveness and resiliency of the Satisfaction motion,” stated Nickerson.

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A number of politicians may very well be seen collaborating within the parade after disallowing political events from collaborating within the occasion altogether in 2019. This 12 months, organizers opened purposes for political events that needed to take part, with the choice mendacity within the palms of a jury of LGBTQ2S+ neighborhood members.

NDP chief Rachel Notley and ladies and LGBTQ2S+ points critic Janis Irwin participated alongside a handful of different native NDP MLAs. The town’s lone Liberal MP, George Chahal, and Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek had been additionally in attendance. The UCP was barred from collaborating within the parade this 12 months, having its utility denied by organizers.

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The parade route terminated at Fort Calgary, the place the Satisfaction Pageant featured a number of performances, meals vans and family-friendly actions all through the afternoon and night.

mrodriguez@postmedia.com

Twitter: @michaelrdrguez