Queen City Pride Parade wraps up weeklong festival
Festival co-chair hopes to see it continue 'for a very long time'
The Queen City Pride Festival wraps up its annual weeklong celebration on Saturday with the Pride Parade.
The co-chair of the Queen City Pride Festival expects thousands to turn out for the parade, which will wind its way through downtown Regina.
Jesse Ireland said the LGBT community has come a long way over the years, seeing a great shift in community involvement.
"It started off 27 years ago with something very small. It was more of a demonstration, more of a march, more of an activist movement. We are still trying to be as political and activist as possible, but it has developed a little bit more into a celebration."
Ireland said there were many highlights for him personally during the weeklong festival, such as the awards gala on Wednesday, and Saskatchewan's first ally blood donation clinic on Friday.
The festival will culminate with Saturday's parade and party. Ireland said he would like to see it continue annually for a very long time.
"I think it's important we continue these celebrations and have these pride festivals as more a remembrance of where we came from and where we still have to go. There are also a lot of countries around the world that don't have the same rights and equalities that we have here."
The parade will start at noon on 13th Avenue and Scarth Street, winding its way through the downtown area and wrapping up in Victoria Park.
