Halifax Pride Parade takes over downtown Halifax

The rain held off for the thousands who lined the streets of downtown Halifax for the 29th annual Halifax Pride Parade Saturday.

"It went great. It was really, really wonderful," said Willem Blois, 2016 Halifax Pride Society chair. "It was my fourth festival and probably the best one yet."

Blois estimated at least 100,000 people came out to watch the parade.

"We had a huge turnout. It was certainly kind of grey this morning, but the rain held off. There was a little bit of a sprinkle during the parade and as soon as the parade was over, just complete sun. It was gorgeous, just a great atmosphere," said Blois.

At 1 p.m., the parade kicked off at the DND dockyards in downtown Halifax, weaving its way to the Garrison Grounds at Bell Road, the main site for Halifax Pride, via Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road.

The parade paused at 1:45 p.m. for a moment of silence to honour victims of the mass shooting at a gay night club in Orlando.

Victoria Best, vice-principal at Cole Harbour District High School, said it was probably her 10th Pride parade.

She marched with the Halifax Regional School Board, and said participating in the parade sends an important message to her students.

"I think it's important just to show our entire community how we value all our community members, and especially for me, for my students to know how much I value our diversity of our school," said Best.

Martin Albert and Bill Warren, who have been together for 30 years, made the Pride parade a part of their Canadian vacation.

The pair are from St. Petersburg, Florida., and said the vibe in Halifax is great.

"It seems like there are many people, straight and gay, and I see more straight people here so far being very acceptive and progressive. It's lovely," said Albert.

"Living in St. Petes, it's the largest Pride in Florida itself, and I believe that the people here are more accepting than the people down where we live right now."

Some people started lining the parade route as early as 12 p.m. to ensure they got a prime spot to watch the floats.

Marc Almon said the Pride parade is a good way for people to inject some lightheartedness into a steady stream of bad news across the globe.

"It's nice. It's an opportunity to also celebrate at a time when there's a lot of crazy stuff happening in the world," he said.

The Pride Festival is winding down this weekend, with its final events scheduled for Sunday. Blois is already thinking ahead to 2017.

"I expect that our festival will continue to grow and will get a big boost from our 30th anniversary next year."