One weekend just wasn’t enough for Flin Flon Pride. This summer, pending any changes due to COVID-19, the town’s pioneering celebration will stretch for a whopping eight days and see sweeping changes.
Some elements of Pride, like the flag raising at City Hall, will continue as they have in the past. The flag will be raised Aug. 14, accompanied by a ceremony and dedication.
The plans deviate from there. Instead of being followed by a trans march, as was the case for the previous two Pride celebrations, the flag-raising will be followed directly by a family event. Details are yet to be released.
The main event for Aug. 15 will be a continuation of last year’s Drag Queen Mermaid pageant, moving from the Unwinder to the R.H. Channing Auditorium and becoming a more formal affair, including dinner, the titular show and a social following the pageant.
“Last year, we kept it traditional and we tried to adopt it. This year, we’re branching out on our own and making it our own thing,” said event organizer Jordana Oulette.
Instead of holding the now-traditional Pride parade on the Saturday following the flag raising, the parade will be held two days later on Aug. 16. The parade itself will be much different than the first three editions of Flin Flon Pride. Vehicles and vehicle-based floats are on the outs in favour of walking - “we think it will make more of a statement,” Oulette said.
Also on its way out is the Pride parade taking the same route as the Canada Day parade, winding all the way from Green Street and Balsam Avenue across town and down Main Street.
While the exact route has not been finalized, two possible routes for a parade have been submitted to Flin Flon city council for event approval. Both start on Green Street and wind through east Flin Flon, avoiding uptown and the Main Street area entirely. One of the proposed routes wraps up near the Rotary Wheel, where Oulette said she hopes could be the site of another event.
“We’re thinking about [changing the parade] because the last couple of years, people weren’t able to participate because they had to work,” she said.
“We’re moving it to Sunday because Saturday we want the focus to be the drag show. We’ll have to see what city council approves.”
Following the Sunday events, the current plan is to hold a whole week of Pride-related events before finishing all Pride celebrations for the summer with a closing ceremony Aug. 21, including a glow party, the fourth year in a row the Pride committee has hosted such an event.
Some local businesses and groups may have interest in hosting Pride events of their own during the week between the Pride parade and closing ceremonies. With around five months still remaining before the flag raising, other changes or events could be added, along with possible sponsors.
“The main goal for us is to keep it changing, keep it different, keep it original. We want to be different. We want to make people interested in coming to Pride because it’s something new, something different that we’re bringing to town,” Oulette said.
For people who haven’t yet been to a Pride event in town or who have little knowledge of the Pride movement, Oulette had a sales pitch.
“They should probably expect to have the best time they’re ever going to have,” she said with a laugh.
“Any time that we have our events, there's never any problems because everybody's happy. Everybody's having a good time. You can expect that. We've honestly never had an issue of there being a fight in the bar or any bad things like that - knock on wood.”
Another key for the Pride committee is creating a set of bursaries for local students. The money for awarding has been raised and set aside, with Oulette and Pride executives working with local school boards to finalize any details.
Oulette said the Pride committee would select recipients, adding the criteria for winners would be based on community service.
“We're looking for community involvement. There's a short essay that they’d have to write as well about what Pride means to them,” Oulette said.
