By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
On June 1, Pflag Halton will be hosting their annual Halton Pride Fest at Hidden Valley Park in Burlington from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The festival will include drag shows, a bouncy castle, lawn games, food, music, and local vendors, including Mazy Way, an Indigenous jewelry maker.
Leanne Rancourt, a member of Pflag Halton, said that the event is a chance for Halton 2SLGBTQIA+ residents to celebrate Pride Month in their own region.
“We feel that it’s important for the LGBTQ+ community in Halton to have something during Pride Month that is specifically for them in their own community, rather than just relying on Toronto Pride to celebrate,” Rancourt said.
Rancourt said members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community shouldn’t have to travel to another city to celebrate Pride Month.
“Queer people are everywhere,” Rancourt said. “And I think it’s something that’s starting to grow, that there are more communities that are doing things.”
Rancourt said that even communities in Northern Ontario are holding Pride events now, despite their smaller populations.
“It’s important to show the community how much they’re loved and supported and that they’re not alone, wherever it is that they’re living,” Rancourt said.
Last year Pflag held its first Pride Fest in Milton, but Rancourt said it’s important to host the event in all the different cities in Halton.
“We feel it’s important to share the pride and spread it around,” Rancourt said. “The goal is to make it so that everybody in all of the Halton communities will have an opportunity to go to one that is easy for them to get to.”
Rancourt said that next year, the festival will most likely be hosted in either Oakville or Georgetown.
Rancourt said Burlington was a natural fit to host the event this year because they were the first city to reach out to Pflag.
“The City of Burlington was very eager for us to have it there and has been really helpful in helping us put this all together,” Rancourt said.
Rancourt said that vendors will be selling homemade Pride swag, jewelry, and art, among other items.
All of the branches of the Burlington Public Library will also be in attendance, along with their “book bike,” a mobile library with used books that are free to take home. The Milton Public Library will also be setting up an escape room.
Four of the United churches in Halton will also have a booth at the event.
“[It’s] just wonderful to have such support from the religious community,” Rancourt said.
Several support groups will also be present at the event, including Queer Rock, Stride, LGBT Youthline, Dare to be You(th), and Halton Black Voices.
Rancourt said that events like Pride Fest are especially vital in the current social climate.
“I think right now it is so important to remember that there is a lot of solidarity within the community,” Rancourt said. “There’s a lot of really dangerous and hateful rhetoric being thrown around about the community these days and I really, truly believe that most Canadians and most people in Halton don’t believe those things and don’t fall into those categories.”
Whit Ross, the Pflag Halton chapter lead, echoed those sentiments.
“Every year we are reminded of the importance of pride for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community but particularly this year, given the rise of anti-queer and trans hate across the country. Pride is a powerful affirmation of our existence in the face of discrimination,” they stated.
“Last year, an 11-year-old told us that attending Halton Pride Fest was the first time she did not have to worry about being bullied for being a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and could focus on just having fun,” Ross remembers. “That is what Pride gives to us — a safe space for queer and trans individuals to connect with each other, feel accepted, and celebrate ourselves.”
Pflag partnered with drag show organizers the House of Adam and Steve, as they did last year, who will be providing music and a DJ for entertainment.
“We have five drag queens who are going to be coming and they’ll be performing all day,” Rancourt said. “And they’re so wonderful and accessible to the crowd as well. They love taking pictures, they love meeting everybody that comes around. And then we also have Bourbon Brown and Company Trio, a band that’s going to be coming and performing as well.”
Rancourt also commented on the positive experience that many young volunteers have when working at the festival.
“We get so many teenagers who are part of the community, and it’s so amazingly wonderful to see them just be in a safe space where they can completely be themselves and know that they’re accepted and loved and to see the joy and everything that it brings to them,” Rancourt said.
Tickets for Pride Fest ’24 can be bought online (click here) for $10 each (kids aged 6 and under are free); there is also a “pay-it-forward” option to purchase an extra ticket that Pflag will then pass on to a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. For more information on Pride or Pflag, go to Pflag Halton’s website, www.pflaghalton.ca/.
