Pride Festival goers will enjoy a brand-new experience this year with the addition of festivities at Queen's Park.

"People can walk around, shop, eat...all in a green space," says Ben Freeman, Acting Operations Director and Site Coordinator of Pride Toronto.

The outdoor area will feature a main stage and licensed patio, accommodating up to 35,000 people, from 1:00pm until 11:00pm on Saturday and Sunday. The licensed area, holding up to 10,000 people, will boast community, food and marketplace booths.

"We're adding something we don't have a whole lot of at Pride, and that's green space," says Freeman.

Even though the rest of the festival locations include five parks, Freeman explains, they are small in size and "they're not Queen's Park." This is a "fresh and new" way to allow Pride attendees to enjoy the summer festival.

The addition of the Queen's Park venue to the roster came at the end of last year's Pride during a strategic planning session, as the leadership team sought ways to expand.

Now that Toronto has won the bid to host World Pride in 2014, growing the venue is even more important.

While some might worry about the distance from the new location to the main activities at Church and Wellesley, organizers are working on a plan to connect the two sites.

Freeman hopes to see applications approved by the City of Toronto to hang massive hydro banners that connect from hydro pole to hydro pole, directing the flow of traffic and telling festival goers where the activities are.

All in all, the addition of the Queen's Park venue is something that Pride Toronto representatives are excited about.

"It's a venue we can grow," Freeman tells, "and over the next few years it will realize its full potential."

-By Keren Gottfried, Media Committee Journalist