Although Pride festivities have been cancelled, you can still decorate and celebrate right on your front porch!

I am hoping it starts a new trend…. this idea is from my adopted second home of New Orleans. Mardi Gras parades are a part of the culture down here but when covid hit, the parades stopped. Not only was this a hit to the culture of the city…but float making is an industry down here that employs lots of local artisans.

So in 2021, right here in Old Algiers, the community launched the concept of House Floats. They took the concept of decorating a float and applied it to their front porch.

Since Toronto has one of the largest pride parades, I thought why not launch porch floats or Pride Porches.

Decorating

I partnered with a local studio who make Mardi Gras floats Strong Hold Studio.. I had to pick them because they made my favourite house float with Saint Dolly Parton – who would be perfect for a pride porch as well to be honest.

I did a sketch (picture below) and Strong Hold Studio cut out the plywood shapes me-that is something you can totally do at home.

Take this cloud and rain drops for example. You simply sketch it out on a sheet of plywood, then cut it with a jigsaw, then prime the wood and paint it. Be sure to sand all of your rough edges and prime before you paint. It’s like a giant paint by numbers.

Hang it up on your porch and get the neighborhood pride going. I promise you, once you do your house. Others will follow.

Tip: Zip ties are a great way to install outdoor decorations without leaving holes

Basic Porch Ideas

Don’t call it basic babe, call it normcore.

Pride is all about celebrating our differences, so your porch should reflect you and your aesthetic. You can easily pick up some metallic fringe curtains, some rainbow pompoms or even some rainbow felt banners. Add lights to create a night time pride porch!

From: Amazon

The trick is to decorate your porch like a stage, think of it in layers. Foreground, mid ground background.

Wardrobe

It’s important to dress the part, so pick out a cute outfit. Since it’s summer, you have to go with short shorts. Well I do at least. And pick up a great pride tee…I love that this Tee from Old Navy was a collab with gay artist Edward Granger and the funds go to charity. But you do you – go all out if you want… just make sure if you are buying pride focused merchandise that it goes to a good cause and that the brand supports 2SLGBTQ+ peoples year-round.