New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago all have one. The one in Chicago has been described by my sister as one of the best events in the city. Music, candy, outrageous outfits, and sometimes protesters can all be found here. Given the high likelihood for entertainment, when I found out Knoxville was having a gay pride parade, I had to go.
I'm not sure how much advertisement was done for this event as about fifteen minutes prior to parade time, there were only a few potential spectators on the streets and cars were still driving down the parade route. I was unaware of the parade until the day before. One Camry-driving middle aged woman was unaware of the parade until approximately five minutes before when she rolled down her window to inquire. Whether it was her lack of support for the cause or her confusion about why my boyfriend and I were there together, when we informed her of the parade, Conservative Carol could not roll her window up fast enough. Although she did tell us to enjoy, even if it was accompanied by a smirk.
Once the parade finally began, there was a decent crowd of people. With high expectations for fantastic floats, feather boas, and faux-hawks, as the parade was underway, I was quickly brought back to the reality that I live in the South when most of the "floats" ended up looking like this...
At least this drag queen shaved his legs
Nobody likes to leave their pickup truck at home!
There was no sign of the advertised "glittery floats", but the number of faux-hawks (on men and women alike) was too numerous to count, and the people-watching scene was superb. So overall, the parade wasn't quite as fabulous as I had hoped but it really was a fun day just being out and about seeing was the city has to offer. Oh, and never mind the irony that this extremely liberal event was being held in the heart of the bible belt, the parade actually took place on Gay Street!
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