Nearly 40K come out for Winnipeg Pride Parade

Close to 38,000 people attended or participated in Winnipeg's annual Pride Parade Sunday.

Winnipeg's downtown was awash with people dressed in all the colours of the rainbow at the event, which capped off a week-longLGBT celebration.

• Winnipeggers lace up for inaugural Frontrunners Pride Run

Grand marshalShandi Strong remembers the first time she went to the pride parade 15 years ago.

"The first time I was very nervous. I stood in the crowd and I said, 'this is great, but I can't do this.' And today, I'm probably the proudest person here," said Strong. "This is a really awesome experience."

The parade started at the Manitoba Legislature at noon and snaked through downtown before finishing at The Forks after 2 p.m.

Strong said the parade isn't just about getting covered in glitter and dancing in the street for the fun of it.

"[Some people say] 'it's all about skimpy little outfits on skinny little boys and drag queens,' and it's not. It's about community," said Strong.

"It's about all the people that live here in Winnipeg, bringing it together and showing how proud they are to have taken the journey that we have, starting here on these very steps, fighting for rights, wearing paper bags on our heads and now owning the streets of the city,"

Pride Winnipeg said the turn out at this year's parade trumped last year's numbers by close to 3,000.