To say it is one of the biggest weekends of the year in San Diego is not an overstatement. The San Diego Pride Parade is notorious for being the city’s largest annual event with approximately 250,000 attendees, according to organizers.
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“This is what the world needs to see,” Angela Granberg, who was along the parade route Saturday with her daughter and friend, said.
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She was one of those thousands of people who came to dance, sing and cheer on the passing floats, bands and performers. “You know, equality and what we give to one group, it benefits everybody,” Granberg added.
However, the celebration was not without a sense of caution.
The San Diego Police Department told NBC 7 on Wednesday that they would be working with other local and federal agencies to ensure attendees would be safe. In the interview, Lt. Dan Meyer said he was not able to share specific details, but did explain that there would be both safety measures that people could see and some they may not notice. But Bianca Barba, who stood along the parade route, picked up on one of them right away.
“Ok, this may feel like a safe space because of the people, but at the same time, it’s something that lingers,” Barba shared with NBC 7 as she pointed to a rooftop across the street. “If there has to be a sniper, it’s because there is danger.”
There were also police dogs who were seen sniffing bags along the railing on University Avenue and uniformed law enforcement on foot and bikes. Meyer added that as of Wednesday there were no specific known threats, but that didn’t mean they were going to ease up on plans.
Furthermore, in early July, the department announced they would be installing 14 additional smart streetlights in the Hillcrest neighborhood before the parade. Meyer said they would help find a person, or car, of interest in the event of an emergency.
So far this year, one San Diego Pride event was canceled the week ahead of the parade by organizers due to safety concerns. The organization posted a statement last Saturday on Instagram that read, in part, “San Diego Pride leadership decided the Pinkwashing 101 workshop might run a risk to safety and to the organization that we were not prepared for, and our Interim Co-Executive Directors did not do our due diligence in thorough vetting and creating a thorough safety plan for a small community event.”
Despite that, Barba, Granberg and thousands of others filled Hillcrest on Saturday to show their pride and support.
“It does make me feel a little safer because I think they’re on the lookout,” Barba said. “People need to know that [members of the LGBT+ community] are not hiding and they don’t have to.”
