Canada: Pride Week in Toronto, June 15-24

The New York Times recently had an article on upcoming gay pride events around the U.S. (see “A Month of Coming-Out Parties” by Beth Greenfield). But their round-up of celebrations during June didn’t extend north of the border to include one of North America’s biggest blowouts, Pride Week in Toronto. Every year a million people take to the streets for more than a week of festivities, from the Pride Parade and Dyke March to mainstage entertainment like the Indigo Girls, a community street fair and after-dark dance extravaganzas. If you want to join the party, too, you’d better make your travel plans now.

Deal: Most of the outdoor events during Pride Week are free, though you should expect to pay a cover charge (typically $5-23) at clubs, etc. The cheapest flight that I could find from LAX to Toronto for the main festival weekend cost $496 round trip (including taxes and fees) on Orbitz. Finding accommodations in the city center was more difficult, but not impossible. Using Kayak, I found that a few of Toronto’s top-end downtown hotels still had rooms available during the festival for $200-225/night (before taxes and fees).

When: Pride Week in Toronto starts on June 15, 2007. The main festival weekend runs from Friday, June 22 through Sunday, June 24, 2007.

Why Go: For one of the most diverse pride celebrations you’ll ever see or be a part of.

Why Not: If huge crowds make you feel suddenly shy.

Contact: Pride Toronto, 011 +1 (416) 927-7433

Do you know of any fantastic, gay-friendly B&Bs or hotels in Toronto? If so, rave about them in the Comments section below.

Related Los Angeles Times links:
Destination: Canada – East
Despite incidents, gay travelers are feeling less of a chill
Canada: The Fairmont’s summer sale

– Sara Benson, L.A. Times Travel Deal Detective

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 11:58 pm by Sara Benson and is filed under Eastern Canada, Festival, Gay, Summer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.