All too soon summer’s almost gone. In a couple of days we’ll have that one last long weekend, then the leaves will start turning a golden hue. The leaves have started turning in some places, my friend E. just got back from the north (northern BC, Yukon and Alaska) and tells me that fall has reached them already.

I’m not one of those people who romanticize the notion of what could have been. I had a lot of plans and hopes for the summer. Some came to be, others we’ll have to table for next summer. There are a few sunny days yet to get into a little bit of trouble before the darkness and rain besiege us. But this isn’™t a post about what could have been; this is a post to celebrate an amazing season that’s passed.

I went to a lot of festivals this summer, probably more than I’ve ever attended in my entire life. I rediscovered the city a little and managed not to run across the border every weekend.

I can’t believe Pride was almost a month ago, the BC Day long weekend signifies the peak of summer for me. It’s packed with events, always sunny, hot and it hardly ever rains.

Now on to Pride; I’ve finally gotten around to sorting through the thousands of pictures I took.

I’ve heard a lot of people complain that the Pride parade has gotten too corporate, which is ironic because the purpose of the parade is to foster acceptance and tolerance. Although I chuckled when I saw the Winners float.

This year a record 600,000 people lined the streets to watch the parade and it seemed like half of us had DSLR cameras, which is great because Pride is all about the photo ops.

This was by far my favourite costume

I can only imagine the time and effort that goes into producing an ensemble like that.

Folks couldn’t get enough shots of this cute little girl, her t-shirt said “I may be gay” and she was so sweet.

One of the Parade’s Grand Marshals was gay rights activists Cleve Jones, he was friends with Harvey Milk and Emile Hirsch portrays him in the 2008 movie Milk

The Mayor and the City of Vancouver painted the town pink.

This PFLAG granny has been doing these parades for the past eleven years.

Speaking of going corporate, here’s a dude from the Holiday Inn

Jack Layton and all the other political parties represented, except for the Conservatives.

And this, folks, is partly why I come to Pride every year!

Here are the rest of the photos from my flickr set, this includes the boobs and (simulated) S&M shots I can’t show here.