Bellingham Pride Parade 2009

Downtown Bellingham was quite a colorful place to be this morning as the 2009 Pride Parade took over Cornwall Avenue!   The parade and subsequent festival at Market Depot Square drew to a close five days of celebration for Bellingham’s gay & lesbian community. I love capturing social commentary with my camera, so I marked the event on my calendar weeks ago. I arrived early with the idea that I’d buzz around the staging area for a bit before the parade started then head home to get some work done. I should have known better… with so many happy, friendly people around me  (not to mention the blaring disco music) I ended up having so much fun I  followed the parade through its entire route  - someone even tossed me some flashy beads  of my own to wear : ) Here are some of my favorite shots, with the full catalog of photos in an online album here. 

The man in the mirror was very clearly unhappy to be impeded by this parade. He glared, he scowled, he repeatedly shook his head in disgust  - such a contrast to all the smiling people participating in the parade!  I made sure to give him a big smile of my own before I moved along : )

     

I purposefully positioned myself where  I could capture the American flag and the rainbow flags  in as many shots as possible. To me, this parade is a symbol of everything that my country stands for.

  

Downtown traffic was backed up a bit… both in the street and on the sidewalk.

A pride parade isn’t complete without at least a couple of noisy Christian protestors- although it didn’t take a very big crowd of  cheering supporters to drown their rants! I got a kick out of the ladies on the left, locked in their own form of counter-protest : )

 

Even Mayor Pike was on hand to offer words of support for the local gay & lesbian community.

 

Bare butts in downtown Bellingham… must be a pride celebration!