ONE PRIDE, MANY VOICES
More than just a parade
Centred on its loud and colourful parade starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, the best of our city’s great outdoor parties is the sprawling, dazzling and inevitably surprising Edmonton Pride Festival.
Running along Whyte Avenue, turning north onto 104 Street, the music-pulsing floats are outrageous, the Strathcona Park beverage gardens full of laughter, and the dance parties around town that follow carry on into the night and beyond.
Much under the rainbow of activities from this past Thursday all the way through next Sunday is free, and everyone is invited to come out and have fun where they can.
“Seeing a full community coming out and saying we love you, we support you, is huge,” said Stephanie Dickie, communications director of Edmonton Pride Festival Society.
Pride in the Park Saturday runs 1 p.m. through 9 p.m., with stages both in and out of the gardens. Besides this, the merry-go-round of outdoor screenings, barbecues, gallery shows, date nights and church services even includes a tea party during the 11-day celebration, which started with the raising of the rainbow flag at 3:30 Thursday afternoon at City Hall.
But stretching back to the gayrights Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village in 1969, there’s also a serious and political purpose to the annual LGBTQ+ celebration.
This year’s theme is “one Pride, many voices.” and the comprehensive program book begins by asking, “party vs. protest?” It’s a magnificent artifact of where we are in 2017, a portrait of intersectional ideas well worth reading all the way through, including a series of essays written from dozens of individual points of view — from two-spirit indigenous people to queer seniors like the ever-active Michael Phair.
“We got some really nice unfiltered, unedited perspectives on where people are now,” said Dickie.
“Pride, for me anyway,” she said, “is a time for celebration — but also reflection of how far we’ve come, how many people have sacrificed to make us safe and be able to come out and have this experience. And also, that there is privilege to be able to find Pride celebratory.
“Not everyone is there yet. The murder rate for transgender women is so high compared to the average population. There were those kids in Edmonton who had their Pride decorations taken down by their school.
“So this is still happening here, there’s still significant work to do.”
Dickie talks about the many days of programming, which reflects the mandate.
“This year we’ve really tried to focus on making the festival a community-building event, really embracing the ‘one Pride, many voices’ theme, trying to get as many different acts as possible. Everything from Paint Spot sponsoring a youth art jam for us to really quite sophisticated things like the Queer History Project created in 2015, expanded this year.
“On our mainstage we have everything from a two-spirit drag queen to Head Over Heels, which is a dance troupe of men who wear high heels when they dance, and local acts like Evan Westfal playing for us.”
At $50, the festival-fundraising Pride Pass guarantees priority access to the beverage gardens Saturday, as well as discounts on some of the festival’s ticketed events. “It’s a nice way to support the festival.”
Here are just a few events to note as you plan your experience through June 18.
The Queer History Project is on display Saturday from noon to 5p.m., Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. at the main festival grounds in Strathcona Park, an ongoing, growing look at Edmonton’s rich but sometimes hidden LGBTQ+ history.
Also at Strathcona Park Saturday, the Chill Zone.
“There’ll be colouring and guided yoga. If you’re overwhelmed by huge crowds but still want to experience Pride, there’s a place for you,” Dickie said about the new initiative.
At noon Sunday in Victoria Park is the Bears in the Park BBQ, which for $15 gets you all you can eat burgers, dogs and salad, plus outdoor games. Grrr!
Next Tuesday at 6 p.m. is the Pride Tea mentioned earlier. That’s at Four Points by Sheraton at 1005 Provincial Ave. in Sherwood Park.
Pride Date Night at the Garden is at 6 p.m. Thursday at the University of Alberta Botanic Garden, 5 km north of Devon on Highway 60 — there’s a map in the listings, and admission is $22.50 for oil and vinegar tasting.
Meanwhile, Fruit sin Suits (no suit required) is free at Chic-Hog-O’s at 10111 117 St., at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. And the long-standing Beer for Queers is at Empress Ale House Thursday night at 9912 82, with floor-filler DJ Bebop Cortez.
And at 4 p.m., Saturday, June 17, Erica Tremblay’s In the Turn screens at Metro Cinema (8712 109 St.) about the struggles of a 10-year-old transgender girl growing up in rural Ontario.
These are just a few of the events, of course. See the listings and guide for more. See you out there!
Seeing a full community coming out and saying we love you, we support you, is huge.