A windy Saturday in Prince Albert didn’t stop hundreds of people from coming out in support and celebration of our local 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
Saturday marked the beginning of Pride Month across the globe and here in P.A., more than 200 people paraded down city streets en route to Kinsmen Park where the crowd more than doubled as festivities got underway.
Prince Albert Pride Chair Chelsea Bleau touched on the theme for this year’s Pride Month.
“We chose self-care and community care as our theme this year,” they said. “We had a lot of different ideas and as a board, we decided that was absolutely the best one because that’s what we really need right now. Self-care involves caring for ourselves and taking care of our mental health and making sure that we’re good, but community care is especially important because we need really strong allyship right now.”
The parade began at Court of King’s Bench and travelled through the East Hill neighbourhood before finishing at Kinsmen Park. There, some speeches were read by other members of Prince Albert Pride and from some local dignitaries, including former MLA for Prince Albert Northcote Nicole Rancourt and Vice-President of Saskatchewan Teachers Federation Nathan Bromm.
Many local companies and businesses also showed their support for the community by walking in the parade and many more as community builders.
Little Ceasar’s Pizza was one of the many sponsors not only in the parade, but at Kinsmen Park as well. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)Bleau said the support this year has been second to none.
“The sponsors were crazy this year, it was a very long list,” they said. “We worked really hard to get in touch and personally connect, especially with local businesses, and there was so much support in Prince Albert – it’s so reassuring and so empowering. Every year, people show up and they know that that community care is needed to put on big events like this and they did a fantastic job, and we are so thankful.”
(Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)Pride Month festivities in Prince Albert will continue until the calendar flips to July which includes a little bit of something for everyone.
Events continue into Saturday night with Pride After Dark at the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Centre and onto Sunday morning with a Diversity Service at Calvary United Church.
More events are planned throughout the whole month and information can be found by heading to Prince Albert Pride’s Facebook page.
(Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)—
