Pride Night 2019
- Kaylin M
- Aug 13, 2019
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 26, 2020
Earlier this year, I became obsessed with RuPaul’s Drag Race. I was a little late to jump on the bandwagon, but once I was on the wagon, I became a mega-fan. So, when I heard that my FAVOURITE drag queen from the show, Naomi Smalls, was going to be performing in Toronto AND hosting a meet-and-greet, I knew that I absolutely had to go! I asked a couple of friends that I knew were fans if they were available, but everyone had plans. I figured that, even if people weren’t fans, they would still have a good time nonetheless, so I decided to ask my University friend Katie McMillan if she would come. She said “yes” and I couldn’t have been more thrilled! I decided that since Katie wasn’t a fan, it was only fair that I pay for her Meet-and-Greet tickets. The event itself was called the “Green Space Festival” and was free, so I could spend a little extra for those meet-and-greet tickets. I was so excited!
On Friday, June 22, I was lucky enough to leave work early so that I could head to Toronto. I rushed home and packed my bags before racing down to Whitby. I had a couple extra minutes, so I got to spend time with my parents before my mom drove me to the station. I grew up in Scarborough and used to be more comfortable traveling around Toronto on my own, but since moving away, I tend to get nervous traveling alone. I invited my friends Taylor and Daniel to come to the event, but they arrived way too early and we ended up missing each other.
I hadn’t planned on leaving early, so Katie hadn’t anticipated me arriving at the time I did. I ended up waiting for approximately 30 minutes for her to meet me at union station. Once she arrived, we both ordered poke bowls for dinner before we got on the subway and headed to the festival.
How naive of me to think that this event was just a lucky happening that I came upon. OBVIOUSLY it would be for Pride week. Needless to say, I was surprised when I realized that Pride was happening and witnessed the sheer number of people that were there to celebrate Pride.
Katie and I got a tad lost … like we always do, before we finally found where the Green Space Festival was taking place. The festival was an event/area that was walled off from the rest of the street, so we had to go through security and bag check to get inside. Katie and I attempted to get a good spot close to the main stage and then we waited. Naomi Smalls was supposed to come out at 9:00, but she didn’t take to the stage until 9:40, so we were standing around for a while. There was a DJ that was performing at the festival as well, but we didn’t recognize any of his songs. Katie and I laughed because the person behind us shouted “We don’t know who this is! Play some Celine Dion”. It was too funny! Once Naomi Smalls got onstage, she only performed for 15 minutes … if that. The fact that she only performed for a couple of minutes was kind of disappointing, but the show itself was amazing. She looked stunning and even kept her composure through a wardrobe malfunction. She had on a nude jumpsuit that had button fasteners all the way down the sides. She was able to undo the buttons and remove the jumpsuit to reveal an equally stunning outfit underneath. However, she couldn’t get one of the pant legs off, so she ended up performing with the pants trailing behind her. It was amazing.
(I took the performance pictures off of the Green Space Festival Facebook page, so I don't own any of these pictures)
After the show, Katie and I headed around to the front of The 519, which is a LGBTQ+ community centre and was the host for the Green Space Festival. We lined up outside and met a young guy in line that was there with a woman that we assumed to be a slightly older friend, but who ended up being his mom. Katie and I were shocked when we found that out!
Once we got inside, we were given wristbands and escorted upstairs to the lounge that overlooked the festival. The lounge was super cute with beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and decorated with monarch butterflies. There were maybe 50 people at the meet-and-greet. We all stood around for a bit, drinking the free wine and bottled water (I drank the water). Once Naomi Smalls entered, after making a wardrobe change, we were lined up to get our brief moment with her. Katie and I were in the middle of the pack, so I had time to calm myself. I was totally fan-girling right now, it was kind of embarrassing. Katie and I developed a whole plan that I was going to go first and then she would go after. Once it was our turn, I totally chickened out and pushed Katie first.
Katie had been carrying all of our stuff and totally ignored Naomi Smalls while Katie placed all of our belongings down and told the photographer how she wanted him to take our pictures. I was just like “Katie! What are you doing?!” Afterwards, Katie and I had a good laugh about it, but in the moment it was very stressful for me. After Katie went, it was my turn. Honestly, I think I blacked out. I remember just being an absolute fan/idiot/loser (just look at how awkward I look in the pictures! Gah) and saying “I just want to tell you that I love you so much and you are absolutely stunning!” She responded by saying that I was sweet and asking me what my name was. All I could think was, “My name! I should have started with that”. We took a couple of pictures with the professional photographer and then the assistant took pictures on my phone. I had initially turned off the flash, because people don’t normally appreciate a flash photo, but I guess the assistant turned it back on because all of a sudden there was a blinding flash. Naomi Smalls turned to me and she said, “Bitch! That was a flash!”. I was mortified!
“I’m so sorry! I had turned it off!”
She responded with, “No, the flash is a good thing! I need the flash!”
Afterwards, Katie and I hung out in the lounge for a bit. Katie was humoring my wanting to be in the same room as Naomi Smalls for as long as I could. She’s a great friend. Katie is more outgoing than me, so we ended up conversing with a couple of other people there. It was fun!
Once Naomi Smalls left, we headed back down to the streets of Pride. We walked the whole strip. There was a lot to do, but also nothing to do because everything was so packed full of people. We took advantage of some great photo opportunities as we mingled through the crowd. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and I was enjoying just being a part of it all.
Pride has developed a reputation of being very sexualized and that it’s an excuse for people to walk around nude. Since I work in the medical field, I’m used to seeing the lesser-seen parts of the human body, but it’s always a surprise to see them outside a medical environment. So, with Pride’s reputation, I was preparing myself to see a lot more naked people. I was pleasantly surprised that I only saw 3 sets of bare breasts, however the most shocking sight was a man standing in the middle of Pride complete naked holding a lantern. A lantern! That was it! … What I’m trying to say it that some attention-seeking people give Pride a bad name, but it’s not what Pride is about and most people maintain decency. I think most of the presumptions come from the Pride Parade, but I can’t speak for that since it was occurring the following weekend.
Since we weren’t able to get into anywhere due to the crowds, we decided to head back to the core of Toronto. Our plan was to go to a bar/club and dance the night away, but I think both of us were hoping the other person would end the night, but neither one of us wanted to “kill the mood” of the night. At least those were my thoughts because I was exhausted. On our way leaving Pride, we walked by this young man that was visibly upset about something, but he passed us too quickly that I didn’t have a chance to see if he was ok. His face and tears still haunt me.
Despite my exhaustion, we kept the night going a little longer. Katie took me to Coffee Oysters Champagne, which is a cocktail bar that is secretly a reverse speak-easy - meaning it’s got a hidden restaurant in the back. We sat at the bar and Katie had a drink while I had the Irish bartender - with the best handlebar mustache I’ve ever seen - whip me up a delicious mocktail. We talked at the bar for a bit. It was a swanky place and I felt very posh just being in there … even though I was wearing running shoes so that I would be comfortable with all the walking we did earlier.
After we had overstayed our welcome, we headed off to the bar. It was 1, almost 1:30 a.m., and there was still a line-up to get into the bar. We stood in line for a brief moment before we were hit-on by some incredibly intoxicated men. I gave the guys a fake name, but I honestly couldn’t even be bothered to be too pleasant to them. So, I finally called it and said, “Let’s go home”.
Katie and I stayed up a little longer, catching up in the quiet of her apartment, before passing out very quickly once we were in bed. The following morning, we awoke and had breakfast before she walked me to Exhibition GO station so that I could catch the train to Union. I met up with Logan for a morning drink, he had a caesar and I had a lemonade, before heading home.
It was an eventful evening and I am thrilled that I got to spend it with Katie. We don’t get to see each other very often, but it’s always great when we do and we always immediately fall back into our old routines. Also, I’m still so ecstatic that I got to meet Naomi Smalls. Eek!
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