On the Sunday after the actual St Paddy’s day (March 17), the parade, which starts at noon, will march down Sainte-Catherine Street with a gaggle of musicians, dancers, marching bands, floats, giant leprechauns, smaller leprechauns and throngs of people wearing novelty sized hats celebrating with merry cheer.

If you’re wondering what to do this year before the parade, most Irish pubs in heart of downtown Montreal have prepared special menus and events for the holy day. There are dozens of Irish pubs in the parade vicinity that will be serving a special breakfast, and we all know that it’s important to have a good solid foundation if you plan on observing St Pattys properly.

The parade itself is on Sunday, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that you can’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day all weekend. The city’s Irish bars and pubs become hubs of activity before, during and after the parade. Look forward to raucous live music, special Irish cuisine and most importantly, the finest Irish coffees and beers this side of Ireland. Here’s a couple tried-and-true favourites…

Hurley’s Irish Pub is a classic stop if you’re planning on observing St Patty’s. On Sunday, they’ll be dishing out the finest of Irish breakfasts. You can look forward to Irish coffee, sausages, soda bread, potatoes and other native treats. They also have a great selection of beer and alcohol if you’re so inclined- and, as you can tell from the video above, at least one bartender who is actually Irish.

McKibbons is also situated in the downtown core and the watering hole is very close to the parade route. They’ll also be serving a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast (8am until noon) with a twist on the classic Irish meal. Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy live Irish music from Good Time Charlie, Salty Dog and more.

There are events all weekend at the Irish Embassy Pub and Grill, but the main event is of course on Sunday. Look forward to a pre-parade breakfast starting at 9am. Then enjoy live Celtic music from The Bombadlis and, soon after sundown, listen to some good old fashioned rock and roll from The Jack.

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THE DETAILS

Montreal St. Patrick’s Day Parade, March 18, 2012

All images courtesy of the United Irish Societies

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Fierte Montreal Pride 2011 was like a carnival of fun and acceptance. People came out in herds to support the community, educated themselves of prevalent issues, and just be really gay together. Even though both Saturday and Sunday had called for rain, the weather held out for the main events. Montreal was just bursting with pride and it’s such an awe-inspiring sight to see the village crawl with every walk of life, and see the parade route lined with people looking for a show.

Community Day: This has long been my favourite day. It was a chance for community organizations and corporations to show what they offer to the LGBT community. The amount of activities, clubs and charities in Montreal is really staggering, and it takes a day like community day to really wrap your head around them all and get involved!

The Parade: No matter how big or how small each float was, they all left an impact on the crowd. From the Bieber look-a-like in a Chariot pulled by shirtless men, to the massive BBCM/Circus Afterhours Float featuring a selection of gay porn stars, everything was at least interesting to watch. Once again the gay cheerleaders and the Bolo Club Gay line dancers brought the fun and funky music. Can you believe they do that for like, three hours? Insane.

Never failing to give me goose-bumps was the minute of silence along the entire Parade route to honour those lost to discrimination, hate crimes, and AIDS/HIV. You could honestly hear a pin-drop in Montreal during those sixty seconds. Unfortunately for the Queer of the Year float, once their firetruck engine turned off for the moment of silence, they couldn’t get it started again. The parade was stalled for a good 10 minutes, but in a huge surge of pride and community spirit, parade watchers all banded together and actually pushed the firetruck down the street and out of the way. Getting a boost from a Police van, the Queer of the Year float was again on it’s way!

Wrapping up the parade was the big green TD Float. Complete with sexy half naked people giving away free stuff. Gotta love corporate sponsors! At the end of the parade, everyone funnelled into the T-Dance, where people danced the night away. Montreal kissed the LGBTQ community goodnight and had everyone already looking forward to next year.

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THE RIGHTFUL WINNER Jason Wimberly! Jason, oh Jason. I will admit here and now that I did pre-judge what kind of person Jason was going to be before I met him. My first impressions were less than favourable. Oh boy was I wrong! What emerged was a gentile and kind person, with a great sense of humour. While his feet are not exactly firmly planted on the ground, they’re still touching in 6-inch stilettos. Some are saying that maybe Jason didn’t deserve to win, as he already has so much going on in his life. I disagree, he really did win fair and square. Taking first place in five out of the six challenges. He even got the peer vote during the Community Spirit challenge:

So I can say firmly that Jason Wimberly: You got Q. You have sex appeal (look at those abs!), talent (your most pie was… just delicious), personality (and then some), community spirit (represent!) and a healthy lifestyle (you still got second, so werk!).

THE SORE LOSER Now, I’m not one that’s ever interested in getting involved with drama, but there are a few things that happened in the final days of Queer of the Year that do need to be addressed. More specifically, Christine’s attitude. She claims not to be a sore loser but watching her final confessional is almost laughable. My mouth literally fell open when I heard the things she said. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? I just don’t understand how anyone could say that to anyone. All the other runner ups, have been nothing but graceful. Especially Tim, who came second and left with a big smile on his face. I feel like some people were just happy to be there, and she let losing get to her head. Bummer, cause I thought my Brooklyn Girl was going to be all smiles and sunshine for the entire competition! So Christine, you still got plenty of Q, but I think you went the wrong direction when it came to your reaction:

THE PARADE Those rainclouds didn’t rain on our parade! Even with a sad weather forecast, we managed to get nothing but blue skies and sunshine! The gays brought the power of pride, acceptance, and rainbow flags for thousands and thousands of people! The Queer of the Year float was a svelte Firetruck that everyone danced and waved from.

Unfortunately, things did not go without a hitch. After the moment of silence, the firetruck failed to become un-silenced. As in the firetruck broke down and blocked the parade route for about 15 minutes. In a huge surge of pride and community spirit, the parade watchers surrounding the truck all banded together and pushed it off to the side! What a sight! Christine was missing for the first part of the parade due to feeling ill, but luckily she got to join in later on.

Jason rallied for hours and hours and never stopped dancing! Eric and Tim were really fun to look at cause they’re both so pretty. Yenna was always the beautiful flower perched up top with a big smile the entire time. I think everyone had a great day!

A BIG GOODBYE Even with the contest over, we all had an amazing time. I think all of us (contestants, producers, cameramen, editors, gay bloggers, hosts) have fallen in love (some all over again) with Montreal. We all made some life-long friends, and we will never forget this experience! This insider has a scoop that some of the contestants even want to take pro-active steps into making Montreal their home! Let’s hope they do!

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OK, so not really. But 3011: Odyssey of the Future is the theme of Montreal’s Gay Pride Celebrations 2011, which uses the future to inspire creativity, to engage participants to think how far we’ve come in the five years of Montreal Pride and to imagine where the next millennium will take us. Montreal Pride 2011 invites everyone to go wild with their visions of the future, be it intergalactic  travel, laser beam stun guns, or a sexy alien underwear invasion. I’m already designing my special space suit, complete with alien blasting hyperbeams. (Special Space Suit: Wearing the least amount clothes as possible without being arrested, and strapping toilet paper tubes wrapped in tinfoil on my head. It’s still in prototype stage…)

For the second year in a row, Montreal will be “Sharing the Pride.” Montreal is a world leader in diversity and gay rights, however there are many countries around the world where basic human rights are violated every day. This is an initiative to spread pride and diversity around the world, so we can all hope to a better and brighter planet long before 3011. This year’s Grand Marshal will be Cameroonian lawyer Alice Nkom, a worldwide activist for LGBTQ rights.

The parade will once again rocket down Rene-Levesque Blvd in the heart of Downtown on Sunday, August 14, between Guy and Sanguinet (heading east). For 2.35 kilometres, thousands of LGBT, Queer, and Straight spectators will show line the streets to cheer on and support this pride movement! Floats to look forward to are Mado‘s (who last year glided above the parade in a tall cherry picker.), TD Bank‘s massive green truck complete with hundreds of shirtless men covered in green glitter, and my personal favourite: The Gay Line Dancing Group. The Parade will end at Parc Emilie Gamelin, where the huge T-Dance Mega Dance party. Oh the pride! Oh the memories we will have.

Lots of activities and events are schedule to happen during this 4 day event, like Community Day on Saturday, August 13. Keep on eye out for more information being released every day! Check back at the Montreal Buzz for complete Pride, Divers/Cité, and Queer of the Year coverage in the coming weeks. My spaceship is waiting to take me back to my new home planet of KAWF33, so I’ll see you in the year 3011! (August 9-14, 2011)

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THE DETAILS

Montreal Pride Celebrations: 3011 – Odyssey of the Future, August 9-14, 2011

Community Day: Saturday, August 13 in the Gay Village

Parade: Sunday, August 14 on Rene Levesque between Guy and the Gay Village.

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