Philly Pride LGBT, Odunde festivals attract thousands

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered to party in Philadelphia on Sunday, celebrating the Philly Pride LGBT Festival at Penn's Landing and the Odunde Festival on 12 blocks of the Graduate Hospital neighborhood.

The usual joy at Pride fest was swept with news out of Orlando that 50 people had been killed overnight in a possible terror attack at a gay nightclub in the central Florida city. Another 53 people were hospitalized in what is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

The 28th annual Philly Pride festivities start with a parade from the Gayborhood at 13th and Locust streets to Penn's Landing, where prizes will include Gayest in the Parade, Best Female Impersonator, Best Public Statement, Best Float and Best Marching Group with, and without, music.

Odunde, rooted in the festivals of the Yoruba people of Nigeria in West Africa, has grown enormously since its shoestring 1975 start, funded with $100, and features a massive African marketplace and music-and-dance performances all afternoon on two stages near 23rd and South streets. Hip-hop headliners are Brand Nubian (5 p.m.) and Biz Markie (6:30 p.m.)