Life & Style

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Crowd bursts with gay pride

Growing festivities need change in venue

By: Lindsey Wiebe

15/06/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

More than two decades after a few hundred people attended the city's first Pride Day -- some with paper bags on their heads -- Winnipeg's premier gay rights event is moving to bigger digs.Pride Day drew an estimated 6,500 people to its longtime base at Memorial Park on Sunday, many following up a rally at the legislature with a massive parade through the downtown. But next year, the event will move to The Forks, a larger venue to encompass a growing audience.

"The Forks approached us, which is awesome. It gives us legitimacy," said Barb Burkowski, chairwoman of the Pride Day committee in Winnipeg.

"We're not just sort of a fringe group anymore. We're big."

The specifics of the move -- such as whether attendees will still rally at the legislature -- aren't clear yet, said Burkowski.

But, the bigger Scotiabank stage at The Forks means organizers can bring in bigger musical acts. The extra space will allow for a beer tent and more activities.

"The theme this year was Grow With Us, and every aspect of pride this year grew," she said. "That's the success in this year and that's what we'll take to cruise into The Forks."

Organizers said the beautiful weather helped boost crowds Sunday at the park, where throngs of people took in musical performances and relaxed in the sunshine. The weather was clear and calm and Environment Canada recorded a high of 24 C.

Sixteen-year-old Kelsey Halldorson enjoyed her second Pride Day with first-time attendees Sara Jeffery, 16, and Kira Regan, 17.

"We're just here for the colour and the friends," said Halldorson, decked out in rainbow-coloured false eyelashes.

Regan said she knows there's still a lot of homophobia and said she appreciated being in an open-minded environment.

"There's no close-minded people, no segregation. Everyone's just meshing together," she said.

Traffic slowed and passersby snapped photos as the parade snaked along Portage Avenue to Main Street before continuing down Broadway back towards Memorial Park.

Bouffant-haired drag queens waved from atop balloon-laden floats amid pulsing dance music while thousands of Winnipeggers walked alongside, many dressed in rainbow colours.

This year's parade was the biggest ever with 30 floats and included corporate floats for the first time.

"It was nuts," Burkowski said. "It was so full, especially given that this is a parade where all the people march in the parade, along with the 30 floats. It was crazy. "

Pride celebrations ran from June 5 to 14. Festival-goers also marked the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, a series of riots against police raids by the gay community often cited as the beginning of the gay rights movement in the U.S.

Dan Boyer took in his second Pride Day in Winnipeg.

"Everyone's here for the same reason, just to celebrate that we have one day when we're free to do what we want," he said.

Burkowski said it's tough to peg the size of the crowd, but said the audience was estimated at about 5,000 last year. This year easily topped that number, she said.

"It's exciting to be able to do something that represents the whole community," she said of her involvement in the event. "This is the one thing that is really about everyone."

lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 15, 2009 B1

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