Events ongoing throughout August
By Colten Kamlade, Staff Reporter
This month the Douglas College Student Union will have a booth at the New West Pride Street Festival.
The festival lasts for one week, running from 3 to 8 pm every day on Columbia Street. According to the New West Pride website, there will be entertainment with acts performing across three different stages. There will be singers, dancers, poets, DJs, and drag performers, all celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. If you are interested in volunteering for the festival, check out their website at www.newwestpride.ca.
If you can’t wait for August 18, then there are plenty of pride-related activities taking place in New Westminster throughout the month. On Tuesday, August 14, there is a Pride Family Picnic, as well as a 19+ event brought to you by Steel & Oak Brewing. On Wednesday, August 15, there is a Pride Hoedown (which includes square-dancing, two-step, and line dancing), and Rainbow Pride Trivia. On Thursday, August 16, there is Rainbow Karaoke and a Pride pie contest. On Friday, August 17, there is a New West Pride Edition of Fridays on Front, as well as an event at the Terminal Pub celebrating Pride.
Other events around the Tri-City area will also be taking place. For the entire month of August, there will be a display of Pride literature and film in the library at both Douglas College campuses. In Vancouver, the SFU Belzberg Library is celebrating Canadian LGBTQ+ histories and stories through a similar display.
The first Pride Parade took place on June 29, 1970. According to an article from the New York Times, the parade took place in New York the year after the Stonewall rebellion.
âThe Stonewall rebellion had happened the year before in Greenwich Village, and the parade was both a commemoration and a next step,â the Times article said.
According to ABC News, Gay Pride is celebrated worldwide.
âLGBT Pride Month events draw millions of participants from around the world each year. Today, the month-long celebrations include pride parades, marches, parties, concerts, workshops and symposiums across the nation. Memorials are also often held for members of the LGBT community who have lost their lives to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS,â the article said.
