Austin Pride 2018 photos: From Fiesta Gardens to hotel rooftops

Austin’s 2018 Pride Festival at Fiesta Gardens might have ended a tad early Saturday: Thunder and lightning (oh yeah) brought official proceedings to a close at 5:30 p.m. instead of the scheduled 6 p.m. end time, according to a KVUE report.

But you couldn’t rain on the parade, at least not metaphorically; the relatively brief storms were nothing compared to the effects of 2017’s Hurricane Harvey on last year’s event, which had to be rescheduled. As storms became light rain, many of the thousands who had attended the festival proceeded downtown, where they joined the floats and festivities of the annual celebration up and down Congress Avenue.

Rainbow-patterned umbrellas just added to the colorful mix, which included the flag corps of the Betsy Ross Fan Club, costumed Capital Metro employees in a “Ride With Pride” bus, the Austin Balloon Collective, AISD and UT Longhorn marching bands, and many other highly decorated local groups, private companies, and freestyle individuals.