It’s official. The 2020 Toronto Pride festival and parade have been cancelled…
The City of Toronto is cancelling all major events and festivals taking place in the city through to June 30 to help combat the spread of COVID-19. This includes Toronto’s annual Pride festival and parade, which attracts hundreds of thousands of people each year and was originally to take place from Friday June 26 until Sunday June 28.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Toronto is cancelling all city-led major events, festivals, conferences and cultural programs, and is also cancelling all city permits for major events organized by external groups at civic centres, squares, parks, public spaces – including road closures, city-operated museums and cultural centres,” Mayor John Tory said during his Tuesday press briefing on the coronavirus pandemic. “All of those permits will be cancelled through June 30.”
“It is doubtful the health environment will where it needs to be on the originally scheduled spring dates if these events are to happen in a healthy, safe and stress-free way,” Tory added.
During his daily press briefing Tory said that he had spoke with representatives from Pride Toronto earlier today. “I thank them for their understanding of the decision and expressed my enthusiasm for Pride Month, which will proceed in June. So stay tuned.”
Pride Toronto has posted a brief statement on social media stating that they will respect the city’s decision and cancel its full festival weekend, which includes the Pride Parade, the Dyke March and the Trans March.
Toronto Pride is not the first to announce a cancellation for 2020… More than 100 global Prides have already cancelled or postponed their events due to the coronavirus pandemic currently sweeping the globe.
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