A decade ago, Quesnel held its first Pride Parade.
"It evolved from a small march put on by a few people where it just ended in the park and dispersed," said the Quesnel Pride Society's president, Julia Dillabough. "Every year it's continually evolved and the parade has gotten that much larger, it's gotten to the point where I've had many conversations with the public works manager, really great conversations, about how do we make the parade route safe? How do we keep it rolling?"
She said there are already conversations about closing roads down for the parade rather than having volunteers do traffic control as the parade goes through the city's downtown.
This year, the parade is on June 14 and starts at noon at Quesnel City Hall. The route will go around the downtown area and end at LeBourdais Park. The pride flag will be carried along the route with the parade, once at LeBourdais it will be blessed by Lhtako Dene Nation Elder Luna Ildzi before being raised for the rest of June.
"I think it's important for everybody to feel included in the flag on that day especially. It's something of a bit of ownership of the flag and I think there's something special about watching it being raised in front of the community rather than raising it with just a select few," Dillabough said of why the flag is being taken along with the parade. "I think it's really special to have the entire community be able to cheer it on. It's a great piece of symbolism."
At the park, there will be speeches, music, vendors and the popular kids' zone from last year, where young people will get to play in bouncy castles.
Dillabough has been involved with running the Pride Society for seven of the 10 years since the city's first Pride Parade.
"I didn't think that Pride was important when I was younger, when I first came out," she said. "For many years, I didn't think it was necessary. And then I started waking up to my surroundings. When friends of mine had been beaten, they had been ostracized by their parents and this type of stuff goes on frequently."
Dillabough said she still hears stories about 2SLGBTQ+ people being bullied in Quesnel's schools and people facing obstacles because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
"Why go to Pride? It's to show support for diversity and inclusion. I'm not talking just the queer community, we want to support all and accept all. And if we don't show up, then these rights can be diminished or go away," Dillabough said.
She also emphasized that allies to the 2SLGBTQ+ community are encouraged to attend and show their support, saying those are often the people 2SLGBTQ+ people will later go to for support.
"If we don't have those allies, it's a very lonely world. I've been preaching over the past three years: allies come out, support your kids, support your friends," she said. "It's just important that we don't let it go and we keep fighting for our rights because they can be taken away."
The weekend will also have some extra events. Friday (June 13) will be the youth event, which is for people from 12 to 18 years old with live music. The night of the parade will be the adult after party and drag show. More information for those events can be found on the Quesnel Pride Society Facebook page.
During the rest of the year, the Pride Society also holds Rainbow Nights at The Den, the nights usually have an educational component and include fun activities like karaoke or trivia. Dillabough said those will likely start up again in September.
"I want to thank all the volunteers that are going to be showing up and supporting this year. We've got lots of people that have put their names forward and we encourage more people to come forward," she said. "The entire board that puts this on, we're all volunteers, none of us are getting paid, and it takes a very diverse group of people to put these things on."
She added that the society is looking for new board members to help organize future Pride events in Quesnel.
At a recent council meeting, Dillabough presented and asked that the community's elected officials try to show up, as the 10th anniversary is a big one for the organization.
