Halifax's 26th annual Pride Parade kicked off Saturday afternoon in downtown Halifax.

With hundreds of participants and tens of thousands of spectators, the Halifax Pride Parade is the largest of its kind in the region.

This year, Toronto Pride will be on hand to promote World Pride.

"Toronto has promoted World Pride in Madrid, in Costa Rica, so for them to bring a contingent here, to say, ‘We want Haligonians to come celebrate World Pride in Toronto,’ is absolutely huge. To be recognized by the largest pride festival in that way," said Halifax Pride board chair Kathy Walsh.

The parade leaves the Halifax dockyards at 1:30 p.m. AT and winds its way to Upper Water Street, up Barrington Street, up Spring Garden Road, right on to South Park and ending at the Garrison Grounds for the post-parade community fair.

Halifax Pride has come a long way since the first pride march in 1987. That year, about 75 people marched through Halifax’s north end. A few people wore paper bags over their heads — not out of shame, but out of fear of losing their jobs or out of fear for their safety for being an out member of the LGBT community.