Parade lasted over 2 hours. Every bank you could think of had floats and marchers in the parade. Politicians from the Mayor of Charlotte, Vi Lyles, to several city council members were in parade. Pat Cotham was in the parade from Mecklenburg County Commissioners. Jeff Jackson was one of the most popular politicians in the parade. The crowd went wild for him.
Heartwood had a float out of their crane. Disco balls all over it.
Duke Energy had a float and lots of marchers.
Bank of America had hundreds of marchers. They were the Pride Parade main sponsor.
Lowes Hardware had a nice float and I noticed they had several tents in the festival area.
Anyway you name it they were there. Including several churches and the Charlotte Pride Band!
And of course a few religious protesters that marched the route surrounded by some gays/lesbians prior to the start of the parade. Then they came marching back the wrong direction. Leave it to straights to not know how to walk down the runway. CMPD caught up with them at Trade and Tryon and used their bike officers to block the route and get them off the parade route.
