Prince George Pride Parade sees large turnout, strong community support

“It warms the heart to see so many people and so many different organizations come out to be who they are and support and show those that are in the queer community that there is acceptance and support for them,” Klitch said.

One of many parade participants who had elaborate outfits

The size of this parade and the community support it saw was definitely a special moment for many involved.

“I’ve been going to pride parades for a long time, for a few decades, and they used to be really small. We used to wonder whether or not we’d be safe along the path. But today there are so many people here, there’s so many smiles, there’s such good energy. There’s a lot of different community associations. And for myself as a queer person, I’m not worried about walking this path,” said the Prince George Pride Society’s Treasurer Kendra Mitchell-Foster.

“I grew up in Prince George, and I can say that this (the large parade) wasn’t always the case. So to see the progression not only in Prince George but also across the north —we were in Prince Rupert about a month ago performing for their pride — to see just the growth of the acceptance and the love and the belonging, it’s really wonderful,” said Parade participant Stirling Von Sutra, who is also a member of the performing group Belles of the Underground.

As for the spectators, they also enjoyed being a part of the celebration and seeing how large the parade was this year.

“As a queer family, we are very proud and we want to come out and respect the fact that Prince George has a really good queer community, and we’re excited to be out here and be allowed to be ourselves,” said Marissa Alexander, who was in attendance with her partner and two children.

“It’s always so exciting to see everybody in the community celebrating, celebrating each other. This is just such a good day to be gay,” Alexander continued.

Beyond the fun celebration aspect of the parade, Mitchell-Foster added it’s also a really important day, as it shows support for a group of people who have been historically marginalized and continue to face struggles today that other groups of people may not.

“This gathering of everybody here is a demonstration that we all really are committed to ensuring that the 2SLGBTQIA+ community continues to enjoy human rights. So having everybody come out together in a really public way, in a really intentional way, and a really explicit way helps us in the queer community, but also the rest of the community, to recognize that we are a vibrant and important and integral part of Prince George,” Mitchell-Foster said.

Many organizations participated in the parade, like the City of Prince George, UNBC, firefighters, the PG Humane Society, and many more, and Mitchell-Foster said seeing the support of these groups means a lot to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

“I think it’s really important that all of these organizations speak up about this. Otherwise there would be just us queer folks on our own trying to overcome a gargantuan task, homophobia, transphobia. It’s rampant in our society, and it’s a really big job, and we can’t do it alone,” Mitchell-Foster said.

The parade marked the end of Prince George Pride Week that also saw other events like a pride flag raising at City Hall, a pride picnic, and more.

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by Tommy Osborne

Prince George Pride Parade sees large turnout, strong community support

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