The Kelowna Pride Society has revealed the key dates for Kelowna’s 2020 Pride celebrations. Kelowna’s Pride Week will run from Saturday, June 6, 2020, to Sunday, June 14, 2020.
“2019 was our biggest Pride ever, with over 12,000 people joining us for the Pride March in downtown Kelowna," explains Dustyn Baulkham, General Manager of the Kelowna Pride Society. "It was incredible to see the outpouring of support from the local community. Our challenge for 2020 is to try and make Pride even bigger and better. Pride is all about inclusivity and acceptance. It’s not about ‘us versus them’, but celebrating and creating a world where all can be their true selves regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation."
The month of June marks the internationally recognized Pride Month; in commemoration of the pivotal 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City and it is also the month Gilbert Baker's original design of the Rainbow Pride Flag was flown at the 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Pride Month is a month-long inclusive celebration of the LGBTQ2+ community and an opportunity to reflect and consider the progress still to be made in the search for equality. There will be a wide range of events taking place across Kelowna, including a Pride March and Festival downtown.
Looking ahead to June, the Kelowna Pride Society has several key needs, as explained by Baulkham:
“At this point, there are three key components we’re focusing on. We’re in search of vendors who would like to exhibit at our Pride Festival, we’re always in search of great volunteers who are willing to help out during Pride - there’s everything from taking tickets to snapping photos - and we’re also looking to secure advertisers and sponsors for our Pride Guide which will be published in the lead up to Kelowna Pride 2020.”