Pride Week off to adorable start

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This article was published 13/06/2022 (1550 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a lengthy hiatus, Pride Week festivities finally returned to Brandon over the weekend, with a “Pooch Pride” event that took place at the Riverbank Discovery Centre grounds on Sunday afternoon.

This casual get-together encouraged members of the LGBTQ+ community to drop by the Fusion Credit Union Stage with their furry friends in tow, giving them all the opportunity to meet and reconnect following two years of inactivity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While a little more low-key compared to a traditional Pride Week march, this “Pooch Pride” event still attracted dozens of participants like Brandon University student Liz Glenn, who attended Sunday’s meetup with a couple friends and her dog Rosie, a coonhound, English Mastiff mix.

Talking to the Sun shortly after her arrival, Glenn said this marked her first in-person Pride event since moving from Moosomin, Sask., to attend BU.

“I’m ecstatic,” Glenn said.

“It’s so exciting to finally be back and in person and meeting all the amazing queer folks who are here in Brandon, just being able to expand that community and socialize with some new folks, both old and young.”

While this wasn’t Logan Praznik’s first Brandon Pride event, it was their first local Pride Week as a volunteer.

“I’ve lived in Brandon for my whole life, almost 25 years at this point, but I didn’t really get into any of the Pride events until the last few years,” said Praznik. “I think 2019 was the first one I marched in myself, and that kind of coincides with my timeline of coming out.”

Because of this transformative experience, Praznik is now fully committed to pitching in behind the scenes to ensure that this year’s Pride Week is special for anyone else who is struggling with their queer identity.

“This time it means something a little different now that I’m trying to get into organizing it and helping out in whatever way I can, because I do want to see it continue to thrive,” Praznik said.

One of the main attractions for Sunday’s get-together was local drag queen Flora Hex, who was on site to take photos with attendees and their dogs throughout the afternoon.

Hex told the Sun that getting the opportunity to meet with members of the public was “long overdue,” since interacting in a virtual format isn’t an ideal way to strengthen the local LGBTQ+ community.

“That’s what gave queer people grounds to be queer, is being together and fighting for our rights,” Hex said. “I always remind people about the history of Pride and why it’s important to come together and stay together and bring other people together with us.”

Sunday’s event wasn’t the first Pride-themed activity to take place in Brandon this month, with BU publicly unveiling its new rainbow-coloured crosswalk on campus this past Friday.

However, “Pooch Pride” served as the official kickoff for a week’s worth of activities being organized by Brandon Pride, the group responsible for first putting together a formalized series of local Pride events in 2015.

Thanks to recently loosened COVID health restrictions, Brandon Pride is finally able to deliver a new slate of in-person activities, including a queer history lecture today, a trivia night on Tuesday, an art workshop on Thursday and a flag-raising ceremony at city hall on Friday.

This year’s Pride Week is scheduled to culminate with a public march on Saturday afternoon that will feature members of local gay-straight alliances and other LGBTQ+ friendly groups.

For a full rundown of Brandon Pride Week’s 2022 schedule, visit Brandon Pride’s official social media pages on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson