You can see all the rainbow flags, the corporate logos dressed in rainbows, or all the social media talking about Pride Month, but Calgary’s big weekend isn’t technically open until the end of the summer.
Calgary Pride Weekend was held in June, as were many other celebrations in North America marking the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising. Then a group of strange people rebelled against police harassment at a bar in Greenwich Village, New York.
But while touching, the previous date at Calgary Pride proved challenging for a festival synonymous with summer.
“It’s really a matter of time,” said Zach Remple, Calgary Pride’s communications coordinator. “We did Pride in June and it always rained, and the weather in September is a little more stable.”
Every (summer) month is a month of pride
The other reason Pride was relocated in late summer was to allow people to celebrate all summer, from June through September.
However, there are many pride and LGBT celebrations in Calgary that take place in June and throughout the summer.
The Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival kicks off on Friday with the film Neptune Frost, directed and directed by musician and poet Saul Williams, while residing at the Banff Center.
The festival runs until June 12 with 45 queer-focused films and five specially selected evenings, June 6-10, including Two Ghosts, Augmented Reality and Mystical Night of Strange Erotica, according to a festival announcement.
This year’s edition is especially important for the queer community and those attending the festival after COVID-19, according to Heather Shaw, marketing director of the Quarry Arts Society in Calgary, which organizes the festival.
“It’s about being with your people. Be in your community and people who really understand. It’s great that people want to come and be allies. But I really enjoyed being in the theater with, you know, my weird family. So I’m waiting for him, “Shaw said.
The festival poster for the 2022 edition of the Queer Film Festival in Calgary. (Heather Show / Calgary Queer Arts Society)
To kick off the month of pride, the Calgary LGBT network Pride in Business held its annual queer art show at the Engineered Air Theater at the Arts Commons, including photography, illustration, new media and dance.
“Actually, we don’t have a specific month each year for these events, but we decided it was a good idea to do so [when] The Month of Pride has been celebrated around the world, “said Felipe Iasso, curator of Pride in Art with his creative partner Fernando Vargas.
“But I think and you can see it on the streets, as if the conversation is already happening,” he said.
Pride in September will include programs that will take place from August 26 to September 5, and the Pride Parade will take place on September 4.
The week will begin with an event at Central Memorial Park and more programs to be announced soon.
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