The City St. John’s has rained on this year’s gay pride parade.

Due to construction on the harbour front, the City is unable to close the streets, and the parade will now be limited to the sidewalks.

Maybe I’m spoiled because I got to witness the all-out craziness of Toronto’s pride parade a few weeks ago, but this hardly sounds like a parade at all to me. The essential ingredient in any parade, the element that commands people’s attention, is the fact that the road has been taken over. That’s kind of the point. Also, if the parade is on the sidewalk, where are the onlookers going to watch from? The road?

This is the second year in a row the City has inadvertently messed with Pride.

Last year Zone 216, the city’s only gay bar, got shut down just before pride week due to some fire regulation violation thing. (I’m not saying these actions are homophobically motivated by any means, just unfortunate coincidences).

The Parade begins at City Hall, circles the downtown core and finishes at the Scotia Centre this Sunday at 1:00 pm. See you on the sidelines.