One thing Banff Pride organizers will tell you is the event that celebrates gay culture is much more than just a one-night party.
In fact, it’s a year-round effort of programming to create more visibility and actively contribute to the community while illustrating that Banff, and the Bow Valley, is an inclusive community.
The celebration of Banff Pride 2016 will be at Wild Bill’s Legendary Saloon on Saturday (Oct. 1) in downtown Banff. Doors open at 9 p.m.
This year Banff Pride has spread its wings and made the leap with several pride initiatives for all walks of life to participate in.
“(Banff Pride is) going to be an all-day event,” said Joe Bembridge, a Banff Pride organizer. “We’ve been doing our homework and hearing feedback from our community.
“We achieved a lot and we’re really proud and have worked towards being able to share it with everyone.”
Additional events start this Friday (Sept. 30) as there will be a first in the Bow Valley at Canmore Collegiate High School. An official ceremony to raise the rainbow flag – the universal symbol for the LGTBQ (lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and queer) community – will occur at 12:15 p.m.
Canmore’s Lawrence Grassi Middle School and Banff Community High School will also have rainbow flag raisings that day as well.
All three Canadian Rockies Public Schools (CRPS) have active Gay-Straight Alliance clubs. Bembridge and Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) rep Shane Nizinkevich pitched the idea.
“The Gay-Straight Alliance as a collective voted in favour of it,” said Bembridge. “I said, ‘it needs to come from you, it’s your school. This would be something we would love to support you with,’ and we encouraged the other schools to move forward with that.”
The rainbow flag will fly next to the Maple Leaf as the Great White North celebrates pride together.
The Banff Pride flag was also rebranded for 2016, and created with the unique Bow Valley community in mind.
The flag has a multi-coloured pastel pallette feel with traditional elements, but different enough to make it exclusive for Banff, said Bembridge.
On Oct. 1, Banff Pride’s all-day programming begins.
At Bison Courtyard, Banff Pride, in collaboration with Alberta Culture Days, will have a free Pride pizza party from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
“Come and have a slice of pizza,” said Bembridge. “A booth will be set up from the ATA … and there will be material for parents to have a better insight of initiatives and programs in place or being created around LGTBQ students within our school and their approach to it.”
Banff Pride members will also be on hand to answer questions of what they do and what they have done this year.
Immediately following that, Bembridge, who is also Bow Valley’s favourite drag queen, Miss Ellen Q, will host a free “sassy” Pride Dance for teens from 1:30-2:30 p.m. at Dance for Joy Studio Banff.
“It’s totally free, and an opportunity for the teen community to come out and learn some choreography and have some dance,” said Bembridge.
Then it’s time for the main event to take place as the lights, the glitz and the glamour culminate in the artistic Banff Pride drag show at Wild Bill’s.
There will be some “fabulous queens” performing, including Miss Ellen Q and the Pumas, Morley’s Argintina Hailey, Canmore’s Chi Chi and Visa De’ Klein, and a special guest who will be unveiled that evening.
“Drag is an art form,” said Bembridge. “It’s ours, it was created by our people, and it’s something we feel breaks down boundaries.”
Advanced tickets for Banff Pride are $20 and can be found at Canmore’s Hello Vintage, Banff’s Wild Bill’s and The Last Temptation Thrift. Tickets at the door will be $25.
Tickets can also be purchased online at bitly.com/banffpride2016.
With work still to be done, Bembridge and Banff Pride are hoping to create a speaker series with Banff’s YWCA to open discussion on many topics.
