Members of Okotoks’ LGBTQ2+ community will show their pride next month.
Okotoks Pride has announced that its upcoming event, Together With Pride Street Festival, will be held on Saturday, June 4.
“It feels really good — people have been asking me to do a Pride event for a really long time,” said Tom Barker, co-chair of Okotoks Pride.
The last large-scale Pride event took place in 2017 at Ethel Tucker Park, held by the Foothills Rainbow Connection.
“People loved it, and we wanted to do it dearly, but the stars never quite aligned to do it,” Barker said, adding the hope was to expand beyond the confines of a park.
"We wanted to make it bigger and better, we didn’t want to push it into a park where it was hidden.
“That’s not the point of Pride, the point of Pride is for people to be able to come out and be visible and be seen with their families and to show other residents in Okotoks that there are queer people who live here and we are visible.
“It’s a really great way for anybody to show their allyship to the community and it makes people feel welcome.”
The festival will take up a portion of Elizabeth Street, which will be closed to vehicle traffic from Elk Avenue to Veterans Way.
To mark the opening of the event and Pride Month, the rainbow crosswalk on Elizabeth Street at Elk Avenue will also be given a fresh coat of paint.
The festival begins at 12 p.m., with an opening ceremony and the painting of the crosswalk at 12:30 p.m.
There will be a street market with queer and local vendors, food trucks, and a large stage set up near the Okotoks Municipal Centre.
“It will effectively be an open stage where anybody can ask to perform on stage,” Barker said.
That will run from 12 to 4 p.m. followed by a break, and then a full drag show from 6 to 8 p.m.
It will be produced by Barker, who performs as drag queen Birthday Girl, and fellow Okotoks Pride co-chair Shannon MacPherson, also known as drag king Shane OnYou.
Coinciding with the Rotary Club of Okotoks’ Soapbox Derby, which happens on the morning of June 4, Okotoks Pride even entered a soapbox racer in the event, to be driven by the daughter of Salutè owner Tanya Douglas.
The event is still in need of volunteers, Barker said, and those interested can contact Okotoks Pride through social media or attend a volunteer meeting on June 2 at 7 p.m. at Salutè at 40E Elizabeth Street.
More information can be found at linktr.ee/OkotoksPride or on social media at facebook.com/okotokspride or instagram.com/okotokspride.
