WHAT’S THIS ABOUT:
Is this the best fairground in British Columbia?
It’s Sunset Beach field – normally one of the expansive spaces found along the seawall, just west of the Burrard Bridge (map here), used for pick-up soccer and inline hockey.
On this day, July 30th, it’s the celebration space at the end of the Pride Parade, Vancouver’s biggest, in which several thousands of people, many shirtless, come to learn useful things about the LBGT community. And to check each other out.
What makes it such a terrific place, of course, is the setting at the entrance to False Creek – at once urban and bucolic. On one side, concrete towers; on the other, sand and water. In between, an amphitheatre.
The site works in three dimensions – the spectators above on shady slopes, the crowd below circulating through a rainbow city of small pavillions. There are no real congestion points, save at the beer garden, as huge crowds get absorbed into the flow while others walk and cycle by on the seawall.
Pride at Sunset Beach is both in your face and off to the side – not a bad metaphor for the gay community, increasingly mainstream and yet decidedly, proudly distinct.
