Pride in the Park is happening Saturday July 16th at Alexandra Park. A flag raising ceremony is taking place at 11am at Town Hall and the rest of the festivities take place starting at noon in the park. Co-Director of Pride in the Park Frank Emanuele, says this event is three years in the making.
This is a family friendly event, there will be vendors, food, live entertainment, and tons of events for children! This event is to create a safe and inclusive space for everyone of all walks of life. For more information you can go to strathroytoday.ca
A post on social media sparked interest in many from the community about the kid entertainment. Emanuele assures everyone that the entertainment is kid-friendly “Drag queens can be very sexualized and they do perform mostly for adult audiences. But, the drag queens and kings out there are also advocates for inclusion and diversity in our communities. They are, the pillars of pride. They have a public persona as well. So their adult persona is for adult shows. But they also have a more PG version,” says Emanuele. “They have done drag storytime for at least a decade that I know of. The drag queens love dressing up, kids love seeing them all dressed up, they do some head and shoulders, knees and toes kind of songs, and they just read stories about inclusion and diversity. So it is going to be very family friendly.”
Emanuele is also looking forward to many ‘firsts’ like the Rainbow Cross Walk Downtown, The Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital raising the Pride flag for the first time and working with the Strathroy District Collegiate Institute with their Rainbow Alliance.
“These are the conversations we want to have with the youth of today. We want to talk about inclusion and how everyone is different and that we should be celebrating our differences and not having to shame one another for being ‘not the norm'”.
Strathroy Pride has a full day planned! Including Performances from Consequence Free and Jamie Baldwin Music, Drag Storytime by Lita Von Sleaze & Brattery Acid, Face painting, balloon animals by Dotsy’s Entertainment Co., rainbow crafts, ceramic hand/paw prints by Muggs Coffeebar and Clayroom; Pride photo booth from Real Event Designs
and many more vendors.
Strathroy Pride would also like to give thanks to their sponsors: Ricco Cash & Carry, Rusty Wrench, Walmart Strathroy, Children’s Aid Society of London Middlesex, Rainbow Optimist of Southwestern Ontario, Poag’s Jewellers, Violet’s of Strathroy, Nicole Miller Reality, Jay McKinnon Landscaping, JSWerry Bookkeeping Services and so much more.
For more information you can go to strathroypride.org or find them on social media at ‘Strathroy Pride’.
Written by K.Close
