Well, it most certainly did rain on the parade but, with a few minor adjustments, it didn’t stop the city’s Pride celebrations.
The Pride Community Parade set off a little earlier than planned to avoid too much hanging on the rather wet and windy seafront. Understandably, the parade moved along at a sharper pace than usual!
Thank you to all the brave souls who took part for not letting the terrible weather dampen the Pride spirit.
Thankfully the weather improved over the rest of the weekend, with Sunday almost making it to quite a nice day.
Clean-up
We put out extra recycling and rubbish bins in the city centre, and our Cityclean team were working hard cleaning up and emptying bins over the weekend.
Most of the city centre was looking tidy by Monday morning, with the clean-up operation completed in the later Monday shifts.
If you see anywhere that needs attention, please let us know using our online request a clean-up form.
Pride organise the clean-up in the footprint of their event sites, including the route after the parade, in Preston Park and the area of the Pride Village Party in Kemp Town.
They worked hard to get Preston Park and the Pride Village Party area clean, open and back to full use as early as possible.
We remind everyone to dispose of their litter and recycling responsibly every time they’re out enjoying the city.
Preston Park
Our parks team worked with Pride ahead of the event in Preston Park in anticipation of the wet weather over the weekend.
Measures were taken to protect the area, including sand provided by Pride to be put down on the muddy ground after the event for grass to grow through.
Some damage to the grass is inevitable in the wet conditions we had leading up to and over the weekend. Grass damage following events is often superficial and it should recover reasonably quickly, depending on weather conditions.
Where grass doesn’t recover naturally, the council’s parks team will step in to repair the damage and recharge the costs to event organisers.
Celebrating 50 years of Pride
Councillor Leslie Pumm, chair of the Equalities, Community Safety & Human Rights Committee, said: “What a fantastic weekend that was. It was great to see the city come together once again to celebrate our LGBTQI+ Pride.
“The weather was truly awful for the parade but we didn’t let it spoil the fun, even if everyone was grateful to get away from the seafront!
“And with a few contingencies brought in to move the Pride Village Party stages back and keep the park accessible, the events went ahead as smoothly as we could have hoped.
“Many thanks to everyone involved in organising and running all the fantastic events.
“It is a massive operation and the work from Pride and partners across the council, police, fire, health and many more made sure it was a safe and fun event for everyone.
“I’d also like to thank our Cityclean and Pride teams who worked hard over the weekend to keep the city tidy.
“And finally, thank you to everyone who braved the weather to take part.
“You all made it an amazing celebration and a fitting tribute to the trailblazers who held the first Pride protest march in the city 50 years ago.”
