After the Halifax Pride parade was cancelled last year, the organization says it’s looking forward to getting back on track as the 2024 festival begins today.
“We’re full steam ahead,” said operations manager Fiona Kerr this week, during an interview with CBC Radio’s Mainstreet Nova Scotia.
The parade is set for Saturday at 12 p.m. local time, and a series of events is planned for the 10-day event, which runs until Sunday, July 28.
Mainstreet NS8:10What’s in store for Halifax Pride this weekend?
It’s that time of year again. Halifax Pride kicks off this Friday and operations manager Fiona Kerr joined Mainstreet to discuss what to expect from this year’s festival.
Halifax Pride will also be returning to the Garrison Grounds this year for two nights of drag shows and DJ sets.
“We’ve been there for over a decade and we love welcoming people into the space and making it our own,” said Kerr.
This year’s Pride ambassador is April Hubbard, a queer and disabled artist who has worked to increase accessibility in Atlantic Canada, including in queer art spaces.
She will be on hand at 5 p.m. local time Thursday when the Pride flag is raised at Province House.
The late Jane Kansas, a writer and activist who died in 2022 and worked for the organization in the ’90s, has also been named an honorary ambassador for Pride this year, said Kerr.
“She really did a lot to move our organization and festival forward,” she said. “She actually brought our after-parties out of closed spaces and into the public, and here we are today on the Garrison Grounds.”
The full schedule of Pride events, including community planned festivities, is available here.
If you can’t make the parade, don’t worry: CBC Nova Scotia will be livestreaming the parade on Saturday.
The parade route will begin at the north end of Ahern Avenue and travel down Bell Road, Sackville Street, Spring Garden Road, and other streets, before ending at the Garrison Grounds.
