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Danny Papadatos jokes he will have more time leading up to this year’s Pride Parade since he will not have to field phone calls about the mayor’s attendance.

Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark announced to city council on Monday that he not only plans to be the first mayor to attend the Pride parade, he will serve as its grand marshal.

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Clark’s predecessor, Don Atchison, faced criticism for failing to take part in the Pride Parade, despite boasting about the number of events he attended as mayor. Atchison did attend some other Pride Week events, but never took part in the parade.

“We could not be more thrilled,” Papadatos, co-chair of the Saskatoon Pride Festival, said in an interview on Monday.

Saskatoon has never before had a mayor as willing as Clark to show support for the LGBTQ community, Papadatos said, revealing that Pride organizers approached Clark to serve as grand marshal shortly after he defeated Atchison in the fall 2016 mayoral election.