Street sweepers have descended upon Oxford Street ready to hoover up the glittery remnants of Sydney’s 2023 Mardi Gras parade as the city shakes off its hangover and prepares for another week of WorldPride.
Tens of thousands of revellers made a riotous rainbow return to the queer community’s spiritual home on Saturday night after Sydney’s Mardi Gras reawakened Oxford Street for the first time since 2020.
Mardi Gras included a historic appearance from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as the event returned to its heritage-listed route after two years away due to the pandemic.
Mr Albanese led the Rainbow Labor float with Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns and became the first sitting prime minister to march in Mardi Gras.
“It’s unfortunate that I am the first (prime minister to march), but this is a celebration of modern Australia. We’re a diverse, inclusive Australia and that’s a good thing,” he told the ABC.
The celebration, whose theme was Gather, Dream, Amplify featured some Mardi Gras veterans alongside crowd-pleasing newcomers.
Dykes on Bikes and their male counterparts led the charge, delighting parade viewers as they filled the streets with diesel exhaust and queer joy.
Other Mardi Gras hits included Surf Life Saving, who strutted their stuff in budgie smugglers and beach towels, and DIY Rainbow’s We Love Britney Spears float which blasted Baby One More Time from its back speakers.
Roughly 12,500 marchers on 200 floats danced, sang and celebrated their way through the spiritual home of Sydney’s LGBTQI community as they commemorated the parade’s homecoming.
And for many parade revellers, things were just getting started, with thousands migrating to the Mardi Gras Party at the Entertainment Quarter.
The all-night extravaganza, which is expected to run until 8am, has a program filled with DJs and performers dancing to every genre of party music from house to nu-disco.
Perpetual partygoers can then head to the Mardi Gras Laneway at 2pm.
The event, “the epitome of kick-ons,” started as a portable speaker on a milk crate. It has since expanded to a multi-dancefloor party with an open-air stage that will host 10,000 ticketholders until 1am on Monday.
WorldPride will continue for another week before finishing with a historic march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Fifty thousand people dressed in their brightest colours will march across the iconic landmark in a call for global equality on Sunday morning.
WorldPride has been called Sydney’s biggest event since the 2000 Olympics, and is expected to host more than half a million people across its 300 or so events.
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