Pride and celebration
Riverside Veterans’ Memorial Park had a colourful look Saturday thanks to the annual Pride in the Park celebration.
“This has been a very successful first Pride Week,” said Medicine Hat Pride Association president Rosie Joa, about organizers expanding Pride events to fill a whole week, alongside the annual celebration in the park.
“We had a lot of people attending our events, and had a lot of families coming out to our events. It was great to see so many people at our bowling event, our coffee night, and now here at our Pride in the Park. Every event we’ve had has had a great turnout.”
The Pride in the Park event featured multiple performances, appearances from drag queens and kings, a kids’ zone and many local vendors. Joa says events like Pride Week are held to support the LGBTQ community.
“We really want to show our support and promote this community,” said Joa. “We want to show people that we’re here, we’re proud and this is a huge support for the LGBTQ community.
“I know a lot of smaller communities don’t have pride events, and I think Medicine Hat needed one. This is a huge community event that brings so many people together, no matter who they are or what their background is.”
The event was the seventh of its kind in the city, all of which Joa has been a part of. She says it has been fun to watch it grow over the years.
“From the first Pride that we had, well, it was for sure controversial,” she said. “We had a lot of people saying we needed to find the bible, or to find Jesus. We really don’t get that as much anymore. We’ve never really had the flag burnings or anything like that here. We’ve actually been pretty lucky with how things have gone considering the size of the community.”
For more information on the local Pride group go to www.medicinehatpride.ca.