CELEBRATING DIVERSITY IN THE COMOX VALLEY

Alive with pride

 

 

 

In late August 2023, our community turned rainbow-coloured in celebration of Comox Valley Pride Weekend, which included the Valley’s first-ever Pride Parade in Downtown Courtenay.

Organized by two volunteer organizations, Pride Society of the Comox Valley (aka Comox Valley Pride) and Queer Culture, the weekend was a resounding success in terms of recognizing LGBTQ2S+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and two-spirit) people. As the several hundred people who experienced the weekend will attest, it was also a darn good time, filled with colour, joy, and expressions of love and unity.

Pride Weekend events


Pride Weekend events included flag raisings in Comox, Courtenay, and Cumberland; a youth dance on Friday night at the LINC Centre; a Saturday night dance party called Enter the Hive at Wayward Distillery; and a drag brunch on Sunday at Match Eatery & Public House featuring several local and Vancouver-based drag queens and kings.

And on Saturday, August 26, there was the parade down Fifth Street in Courtenay, followed by Pride in the Park, a whole afternoon of entertainment and exhibitions at Simms Park. Many parade spectators joined the official participants, walking down Fifth Street en masse to join the festivities at Pride in the Park. Organizers counted hundreds of attendees over the course of the afternoon, and Comox Valley Pride chairperson Christopher Bate (they/them) estimates that at the peak of the event, right after the parade ended, there were 350 people in the park.

Comox Valley pride

Celebrating queer and trans performers


Pride in the Park organizers were committed to featuring only queer and trans performers to help counteract expressions of hatred voiced towards trans people by certain segments of society. And while the overall energy at the event was celebratory (and the performers were fabulous), speakers acknowledged the hardships faced by queer people throughout Canada, the United States, and around the world. Bate reflects, “We [in the Valley] can acknowledge our privilege while also acknowledging our challenges. We have to keep it real.”

They also note: “There are a lot of queer people in the Valley. Some are hidden—it’s not always safe to be open here. [But] Pride helps make the community safer.”

On the other hand, Batex commends the generosity of local merchants, businesses, and community members when asked to help with fundraising to ensure the weekend’s success. “The power of community support cannot be underestimated,” they say, adding that “most of the vendors were Valley based, and all the volunteers were local.”

Comox Valley pride

This year’s parade and Pride in the Park to be held on August 24


Plans are already well underway for this year’s parade and Pride in the Park, to be held August 24, and Bate says that even after adding five more vendor spaces, most of the booths are already booked. “The spaces were offered to queer people first, then to the broader community,” they explain, adding that preference was also given, as much as possible, to local businesses. This year, the food vendors will all be local non-profits like the Indigenous Women’s Sharing Society, LUSH Valley, and Sunday Station. “They get to keep all the profits they make,” says Bate, “so more money stays in the community.” Organizers are lining up another stellar slate of performers, and plans are also afoot for additional events to draw in more of the LGBTQIA2S+ community.

Queer Culture Comox Valley’s mission is “embracing diversity, celebrating love, [and] empowering our community.” Many—maybe most—people in the Comox Valley cherish this concept every day, not just on Pride weekend. “It was a beautiful surprise last year,” says Christopher Bate, “to realize how supportive the community is.”

Comox Valley pride