After the usual Sunday morning laundromat session I rode MUNI down to Market & Montgomery to catch the beginning of the 39th annual San Francisco Gay Pride Parade. But I was early. Everybody was still setting up, like the TV camera guys above.
People were marking out viewing spots, especially the elevated ones. Pride Weekend in San Francisco at the end of June is often cold and sunless, but today a perch with some shade over it was going to be especially desirable. I walked down Market toward the Embarcadero, looking for the parade's starting point.
Vendors hadn't yet unloaded much of their rainbow tat, though they seemed to share the general mood of genial anticipation. But I also noticed the diminutive bottle-and-can lady with her pole over her shoulder, digging through garbage cans and seemingly oblivious to the hubbub around her.
Beale Street had been chosen as the staging site, with floats and contingents backed up for many blocks, and still assembling.
Replica of Castro Theater marquee. San Francisco Supervisors Bevan Dufty, Fiona Ma and Sophie Maxwell hadn't arrived yet.
