It's Official, Montreal's 2014 Pride Parade Is Ready To Take Over René Lévesque Street In August

The most colourful parade of the year.

Forget Toronto Pride, Montreal is where its at when it comes to showing some LGBT support, always with an equal focus on partying community development. Montreal's Pride/Fierté festival begins on August 11th, with the whole culminating in the epic event that is the Pride Parade.

Sunday, August 17th will be the day to hit to the streets with plenty of pride and rainbows, as the official Pride Parade will begin at 1pm and run from Guy to Sanguinet on René-Lévesque (map). All are welcome to watch the annual LGBTA Parade, as hundreds of sports teams, community groups, organizations, and businesses walk on through the route on floats and on foot, all showing their pride and support for Montreal many diverse citizens.

This year's theme for the parade will be “Our Flag, Our Fire: ORANGE,” with parade-participants invited to base their floats/costumes on the theme and colour scheme. A bunch of special awards will be given out to those in the parade (like best float and best use of theme), as well as two special awards to 2 Montrealers who have made significant contributions to the LGBT cause and community.

The parade will end with everyone heading to the MEGA T-DANCE area (Place Émilie-Gamelin) where the festivities will end with a closing show and a giant dance party. You can be sure it's gonna get more than a little wild.

Pride, of course, is more than just the parade, and a huge number of events will be going on during the 7-day festival. Parties and shows will be released closer to the actual date, but Community Day is definitely happening on Saturday, August 16th from 11am-5pm. Kiosks and booths from all sorts of groups and organizations will be set up in the Village, allowing any and everyone the chance to learn more about the LGBT community.

August 11th to 17th is gonna be a week full of sun, fun, and plenty of pride. Learn more about everything Pride-related at the official Pride 2014 website.

Will you be at the Pride Parade?

For more on all things Montreal, follow Michael on Twitter @MDAlimonte