Sydney gets ready for the 2021 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

The 2021 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is just a few hours away, and while this year’s celebration will be very different to years gone by, it’s still tipped to be a massive spectacular party.

Organisers say the biggest night of the year on the LGBTQI+ calendar, Mardi Gras Parade remains a beacon of hope, a vehicle for protest and the ultimate display of creativity for its communities – showcasing issues and achievements from the past 12 months through dazzling costuming, cheeky satire and limitless joy.

In front of a stadium crowd the parade will feature 5,000 marchers, across 120 parade entries. This year’s Mardi Gras theme is RISE, a call to action that now is the time to rise again through love, compassion, respect and understanding. The theme is a poignant message following the challenge and hardship of 2020, with Parade entries incorporating it into their final concepts.

The event is being broadcast on SBS from 3pm (WA time) and you can also tune in to Melbourne’s JOYFM for commentary too, and a camp party soundtrack all through the day.

A very special Welcome to Country curated by Ben Graetz will be performed at 3pm featuring Aunty Yvonne Weldon, singer/songwriter Scott Hunter, plus Koomurri dancers, NAISDA dancers, and Buuja Butterfly dancers. Then at 6:30pm the crowd will be revved up as the Dykes on Bikes take to the stadium on their hogs to perform a lap, heralding the start of the glittering Parade, led with the First Nations and 78ers floats.

This year’s coverage on SBS will again be helmed by drag icon Courtney Act, comedy superstar Joel Creasey, Perth’s own Narelda Jacobs and comedian Zoë Coombs Marr.

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

OIP Staff

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