Pride & Pressure

Last weekend, explorations of Montreal continued as we mixed it up with some of the city's sub-cultures.

Montreal Street Art.

On Friday, I went on the "Free Walking Tour of The Quartier des Spectacle."  A great tour if you are in Montreal or thinking of visiting - it is well worth your time!  The tour was a great opportunity to become better acquainted with the arts, culture, and history of Montreal as it highlighted Montreal's graffiti scene, innovation in art and technology, and the underground city and Metro.  I learned about very interesting urban planning that is currently being implemented on Rue Sainte-Catherine to better equip it for the many, many festivals the city hosts every year.  Among the cool innovations, is an underground vacuum system that will keep trash cans from overflowing during events.  Very futuristic!

Montreal Pride Parade 2011.

Montreal is all about the festivals.  There are small community celebrations and there are major events, but it seems there is always something to celebrate.  This weekend was no exception.  Montreal's Pride festivities were in full swing with the parade on Sunday.  A few streets over was the Under Pressure graffiti convention.  Two events that were all about being seen and bringing understanding to the community.

Under Pressure 2011.

We started Sunday afternoon by walking Under Pressure on Rue Sainte-Catherine.  This is an annual event to help bridge the gap in the debate over whether graffiti is art or vandalism.  The festival included artists from all over the world, skateboarding competitions, DJs, and b-boy battles.  The streets and alleys designated for the festival became a living museum as the artists climbed scaffolding adding their tags to the walls.  I had never seen anything like it!

Adam checking out the display
inside the pop-up gallery
for graffiti art across the street
from the Under Pressure
graffiti convention.

Artists adding their tags to the
brick wall canvas from
scaffolding along the alleys
of Rue Sainte-Catherine.

After a quick break for ice cream, we headed over to Rene-Levesque Boulevard to meet up with friends for Montreal's Pride Parade.  Here, Adam took a detour to check out Otakuthon, Montreal's Anime convention that was happening not too far from the parade route (there really is something for everyone going on in this city at all times).  The theme of this year's Pride Parade was "3011: Odyssey of the Future."  Quebec, and Canada as a whole, is a more accepting culture (it was the fourth country worldwide to sanction same-sex marriage) - and I think the parade's theme was hopeful that all countries would recognize this right in the future.  The parade was flamboyant and fun - although not as large (or crazy) as some of the Pride parades I've been to in Chicago.  In any case, Adam had hoped to see more boobs.

It just isn't Pride without
a few drag queens!  

Line dancing cowboys in
Montreal's Pride Parade.

Of course, being so close to Chinatown, we had to stop in for a late lunch/early dinner after the parade finished.  I don't know how this happens, but our weekend adventures always end with a meal in Chinatown.  Our bellies seem to like it.