Gay Pride 2011

Sunday was the Gay Pride Parade here in Chicago, in the middle of my neighborhood. The parade goes north on one street, south on another and I'm right in the middle. There are two choices in dealing with the parade: 1) leave town for the day or 2) embrace it. Though I guess I employ a third option: go out periodically during the 3 hour parade, snap some pictures, have some drinks, get some sun, then come back inside; sort of a middle of the road tactic.

The weather was fantastic, so here are some pictures of the day:

I entitled this picture "Batten down the hatches". You just never know what 250,000 drunks are going to do whether they be gay or football fans or gay football players. It's just ot a great situation for the environment around the group.

Even the local owners decided to secure some newly grown grass from damage.

Someone decided to toss out some furniture. Someone else put up a sign and assembled the furniture as a little rest stop. Nice. It got a lot of use during the day too.

Here's one small section of the crowd. Look at that clear blue sky!!

WGN News had a float and it had Bozo and weatherman Tom Skilling aboard. About 18 of the floats had their tires slashed overnight at the site where the floats are staged. I believe they were all repaired in time for the parade, but what an immature thing to do.

Speaking of gay football players, here's the Chicago women's pro team.

One of my favorite floats every year: Dr. Z's breast implant and plastic surgery float. Ha! Gotta know your market.

The Iowa Hawkeyes always have a large presence at the Pride Parade.

Botanical gardens trolley. Pretty nicely done.

Scream!!!! The "adopt a cat" van. Again, know your audience!

TimeOut Chicago was represented. The billionaire for whom I worked owns most of the publication.

Frank, a Starbuck's barista marching for Order of the Phoenix....a pagan religion I believe.

This Lesbian cop was REALLY popular.

I have no idea if the sign is correct or not, but it made me laugh.

Probably the most interesting thing I saw anyone carrying today was this gal and her cheeseballs!

Even Wonder Woman showed up!

At some point though, you have to pay the piper for your drinking and it doesn't matter how many port-o-potties they have, there's always a line.

Some people just can't wait to eat....so they just plop down wherever and start eating. In this case, it was the middle of the sidewalk.

These folks opted for a side street for their picnic.

This gal has the typical "drunk stance" going on: feet spread wide for balance from swaying, away from people so you don't accidentally fall into them and drink and phone in hand.

These three gals were hammered and opted to take up most of a stoop. They seemed so drunk and sad. I'm sure they had mucho fun earlier in the day.