I had a really productive (and fun) week in Toronto last week. My primary reason for going was to volunteer during pride week, in my capacity as a Director of Pride Toronto.
The week began Monday, at City Hall for the official Pride flag raising ceremony. After the ceremony, the city had a full lunch prepared for the thousand or so people who attended. I should have worn sun screen.
Tuesday, I had a couple meetings with art galleries and then went to the True Colors concert. Wow, talk about reliving 80s memories. Blondie, Erasure, Cyndi Lauper and more.
Thursday morning I went to the Toronto OpenCoffee group, and met Jonas Brandon, the founder of the group. Also in attendance were John Martin, Roy Pereira, Colin Smillie, Veronica Montero, Beverly Crandon and a few others. Although there were a dozen or so people around the tables, there were more than two times as many women in attendance as I’ve seen at Boulder OpenCoffee gatherings. Go Toronto!
I also learned about BunnyHero Labs, a Toronto company with an awesome name and a fun product.
Friday kicked-off the super packed party weekend attended by over a million people. The highlights have to be seeing an old friend who I always manage to find every year in the sea of a million or so people without fail, and meeting lots of people just at ease with who they are, at the deepest of levels. The Pride Toronto volunteers are just awesome, all 1000+ of them and our staff members are incredible — Wow, just wow.
Early Monday morning I returned back to the new Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson. I like the new Maple Leaf Lounge — free WiFi and a free hot or cold breakfast, not like the cheap United Red Carpet Lounges. The only downer was the new US Customs and Immigration area is slower. We arrived back in Denver an hour early (a freakish lack of headwinds according to the pilot).
