Thousands celebrate 30th annual PrideDay in Philly

Thousands of people celebrated the LGBTQ community on Sunday in a parade marking Philadelphia’s 30th annual PrideDay.

The weather was mild at the start of the parade, which got underway at 11:30 a.m. in the heart of the city’s Gayborhood at 13th and Locust streets, and made its way along Market Street to a festival at Penn’s Landing.

“It’s a great time to be with the community and to celebrate ourselves,” said Farrah Mascara (aka Nick Mackaara) of Stratford, New Jersey.

Philadelphia’s first pride parade took place in 1972, two years after marchers gathered in New York City to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots. But the Philadelphia parade went on hiatus from 1977 to 1987, according to Philly Pride Presents. Then in 1988, the success of a spontaneous march from the Gayborhood to Love Park prompted organizers to formalize the festivities, which have gone underway every June since then, despite some financial difficulties in the 1990s.