Toronto Pride is this weekend and, in fact, has already started. I was out on Church street just the other night and already traffic is finding it difficult to get through the gathering crowds. Patios are FULL! The weather is fantastically hot causing many men to strip down to the least amount of clothing allowable! Thank you Mother Nature!Unfortunately Toronto's city workers also chose this week to go on STRIKE! That means no garbage pick up (in this heat? Ugh!) and no ferry's to Toronto Island...and Toronto's nude beach!! AARGH! Denied!! How could they do this to US?
Despite the strike it appears as though most Pride events are continuing as planned (although the Beach Ball at Hanlan's (the nude beach) was recently cancelled. Bummer. I'd wanted to go to that. But there's plenty to do on the mainland, and it can all be found in your copy of the Pride Guide put out by XTRA!
When I sketched up the cover I wanted to include as much of the street crowd and diversity of Toronto's gay community as possible. Every year I see the dude on the stilts, numerous bears in full leather (shweaty!) drag queens, and increasingly over the years - families!
Hopefully I came up with an image that people can look at over the course of the weekend and not tire of! If you're in Toronto grab yourselves a copy and please pop into the comment section and tell us which events you're looking forward to and enjoyed!
Happy Pride!
j.bone
6 comments:
Nice! What's this canadian sluppy thing the guy on the right is eating? Is it corn with tons of sirup?
Xavier - Ha ha! It's corn, but with butter, not syrup! It's my favourite thing to eat at these big events (the guy eating the corn is a caricature of me, sort of ;)
Usually there's so much butter on the corn that it runs down your arm. Yummy!
j.
You know I kind of thought the guy eating the fish covered with butter was you :) I think it was the hat that gave it away.
Actually I figured it was corn, but they are always coming up with new Fair Food.
So are they all based on people you know? Is that a french bulldog?
Can we see close up of the guys on the balcony?
I'm going to Denver Pride in Colorado this weekend, I expect it should be a blast as well :)
Javier - I always prefer the traditional Fair Food; real potato french fries, corn dogs, popcorn, etc...but I must say I enjoy the popularity of the corn on the cob. It's a fairly recent addition, isn't it? I don't remember getting it as a kid.
That is a French Bulldog, yup. The other bigger dog is my Hugo. Most of the people are based on friends or people that I see every year at the street fair. I'll throw a close-up of the balcony guys on the next update (they're really just a few lines and abstract color shapes...)
Machos Da Net - Nice work on your blog, man. Thanks for sharing.
GrifterWolf - Hope you had a great time, Wolf. Toronto Pride turned out well.
best,
j.
FUN FUN cover! Similar somewhat to Glen Hanson's style, but with your own twist, of course. And Happy Pride from NYC. :)
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