Thousands join in walk to celebrate LGBT pride
Thousands of people dressed in bright colours and waving rainbow flags walked together Saturday in downtown Kelowna during the 10th annual Okanagan Pride March.
The milestone of a decade of LGBT-pride celebrations in Kelowna wasn’t lost on organizers.
“The first march was in 1996, but it’s been 10 consistent years of having the pride festival and march,” said Dustyn Baulkham, president of the Okanagan Pride Society.
Last year’s Okanagan Pride Festival brought out 4,700 people. This year, organizers expected more than 6,000 participants.
“It’s a bit heartbreaking that we still need to have pride festivals and marches . . . but we do,” said Baulkham. “Even though we might legally have the same rights of everyone in Canada, we are marching for our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who can’t march and enjoy the same rights we do.”
Baulkham said he prefers the march format in which everyone walks together, which doesn’t happen in many other cities with pride parades.
“For me personally, a march is us moving forward together versus us watching a parade,” he said.
This year’s pride festival took place in Waterfront Park, and the list of vendors grew from 33 last year to 67, including food trucks, bouncy castles and activities.
Robert Verigin was one of many people dressed in a bright costume to celebrate pride.
“A few years back, there was maybe 10, 15 of us, and now look at this,” he said of the festival turnout. “I’m a senior, and a long time ago if you went and did something like this, they’d throw beer cans at you or eggs. It’s liberating to know that these young people will never have to go through what I went through.”
For Natasha Tarrant, participating in the pride march meant being able to express herself without fear, she said.
“I am really happy that we have such a good turnout, especially given the town’s rather conservative attitude in the past,” said Tarrant. “It’s really nice to see so many people here.”
Having Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran lead the march also spoke volumes about the progress being made in the city, she said.
“I think that’s been a big part of the change, is that the people who are running the show are actually being openly supportive — not just allowing it, but actually supporting it,” said Tarrant.