Manchester flooded with red heart balloons ahead of Pride

Manchester was encouraged to “feel the Love” this morning (August 15) when the city woke up to discover 500 red heart-shaped balloons had mysteriously appeared around the city centre.

The stunt was organised by the team behind Manchester Pride, who encouraged passers-by to share pictures of the hearts online and with their loved ones using the hashtag #FeelTheLove.

Manchester Pride has held a city-wide programme of arts and culture events over the last month, with the main celebration, the Big Weekend festival, set to take place next weekend (August 22-25). The theme of this year’s event is ‘LOVE’, in honour of the introduction of same-sex marriage in England and Wales earlier this year (March).

Mark Fletcher, Chief Executive of Manchester Pride, said in a statement: “Since 2014 is the year where the LGBT community showed the world that love has no boundaries – we wanted to celebrate the fact we are the ‘Love’ generation. We hope our #FeelTheLove balloons helped to spread a little more love in the city ahead of the Big Weekend.”

The Big Weekend will feature performances from Anastacia, Pixie Lott, All Saints and more – click here to check out the full lineup.

The free parade is due to set off at 1pm on Saturday August 23 and will run from Liverpool Road to the end of Whitworth Street – right by Manchester’s gay village. For more information visit the Manchester Pride website.

For more information or to book Exclusive Gay Travel packages visit marriott.co.uk/GayTravel.

More Pride & Festival stories:
Tom Daley shares #FreedomTo message for Pride in London
Two female popstars added to Manchester Pride line-up
Union J pull out of Pride Cymru, replacements announced

You can take a look at pictures of the #FeelTheLove stunt below: