Prince George will soon be seeing a lot of colour, support, and love in its streets; because this weekend is pride weekend. The PG Pride society has been planning all year for their annual pride parade, and it's expected to be bigger than ever. This year marks it as its 19th annual,and as PG pride president, Stacey Hewlett says, they have faced a lot of challenges over the years, but the support they have had from the community has been enormous. This year the parade is proud to be called the biggest parade in PG, and the weekend includes many other great activities.
To start off the festivities, there will be a 19 + drag show on july 8th at the Coast Inn of the North. The next day, on the Saturday, is when the festival and parade happens. It all starts at 10am with the parade at 11am. The festival includes food and item vendors, bouncy castles, a performance by the actors of Judy Russell's Mary Poppins, a comedian, and more! The festival will be a great event for everyone and anyone. It will go until 4pm, but the entertainment, for those over 19, doesn't stop there. At 8pm you can head over to the Civic Center for the pride dance. It lasts all night, so prepare to party! If you are still awake enough for breakfast the next day, head down to the final event of the weekend, the Phoenix Breakfast, happening at 11am in the Coast Inn of the North. It is the last event of the weekend but certainly not the least (A cliche , but in this case definitely true) . It is to honour the recipient of the Phoenix award, one who truly embodies the idea of ‘rising from the ashes’. The beautiful award was made by the talented local artist Wendy Young.
President of PG Pride, Stacey Hewlett, says she is overwhelmed by the support the group has received around the entire event. She states that over the years her favourite part has always been the parade. She says that it is just amazing to see the way the community gets together and helps each other. She was born and raised in PG and says that not just the parade, but the whole city has grown. This year more than ever there has been an tremendous outreach from all parts of PG. City council is putting a float in the parade, Unions have been giving support, not to mention the police and ambulances that are going to help supervise the proceedings. It will be a truly spectacular weekend, and I am sure many will leave it feeling touched by the outpouring of love and support PG is able to offer. The theme of the weekend is building bridges and that will be very easy witness that first hand throughout the whole weekend. To get tickets for any of these events, excluding the festival which is free, head over to https://pgpride.tickit.ca/ , and for more info check out Pg Pride's Facebook page https://goo.gl/9598fS or their website http://prideprincegeorge.wildapricot.org/
-Laura Smith
