Despite the hazy skies, scores of people lined the streets for the state's largest Pride parade. Watch video
ASBURY PARK -- Tom Smith remembers when the state's largest Pride celebration was "isolated" and "desolate" 15 years ago.
That was the last time the 48-year-old Philadelphia resident attended the annual Pride festival -- now in its 25th year -- in Asbury Park.
"It wasn't as spread out," Smith explained, as he eagerly awaited the arrival of the parade at the corner of 5th and Grand avenues. "The community at large is very opening and accepting."
Laura Pople, president of Jersey Pride and organizer of the event, said she remembers when the parade used to get 1,000 participants and was limited to just two blocks near the boardwalk back in the early 90s.
"It was really cute," she said with a chuckle. "There wasn't really much to it. Now the parade is huge. Everything has just gotten so much bigger."
Despite the hazy and cloudy skies, thousands of parade revelers lined the streets of Asbury Park and gathered at a large park on 5th and Ocean avenues Sunday for the LGBTI -- lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or intersex -- Pride celebration.
Pople said about 20,000 to 25,000 people attended the celebration last year, its largest gathering to date. She was hoping for about the same in 2016, but said she knew the pre-parade rain might have scared some attendees away.
The parade kicked off at City Hall around noon and snaked through downtown and toward Convention Hall on Ocean Avenue. It featured corporate sponsors, such as Bank of America and Uber, to local church groups and politicians, and members of the various LGBTI sub-communities from across the region.
Scores of people lined the streets, some cloaked in rainbow flags, waiving, cheering and shouting "Happy Pride."
Pople said the Asbury Park community has always accepted the LGBTI community but now it's more inclusive of families and businesses.
"Pride is a shared public affirmation of the right to love whomever you want with all the joys and heartache that goes with that, regardless of your gender or the other person's," she said.
Jess and Jen, who have been dating for five months and did not want to give their last names, both agreed that the Pride celebration has becomes less about a fight for equality and more of a celebration.
"I like that even people who are just coming out can be comfortable with who they are (at Pride)," Jess, an Asbury Park resident, said.
Jen, a Brick resident, said the community has come a long way, and that's also a reason to celebrate.
"It's fun to celebrate the progress, you get to celebrate who you are," she said.
Both Jess and Jen, along with Tom Smith, said the rainy weather wasn't going to stop them from enjoying the celebration. And despite the fear that Sunday would be a wash-out, by the time the last float crossed over Sunset Bridge on Grand Avenue, the sun peaked out from underneath the clouds.
"It's still a beautiful day, that's how I look at it," Smith said.
Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.