COCHRANE— Crafting a fun-filled week of Pride festivities, The Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area is helping youth and the greater community celebrate Pride Week in style.
Boys and Girls Club (BGC) Youth and Volunteer Program Coordinator Nola Humes said including community young people in Cochrane’s second annual Pride Week was of critical importance to the club.
“We have such a large population of kids coming to the club who identify as two-spirited and LGBTQ+,” Humes said. “We want to make sure that they can be as involved as possible. We really listened to what they want to see and we’re getting them to help us do everything.”
It was essential for the club to help facilitate festivities for Cochrane’s second annual Pride Week, Humes said, because they wanted to ensure youth voices were heard and included.
It has been exciting creating a space for LGBTQ2S+ youth in Cochrane and the club as a whole is eager to share Pride celebrations with the entire community.
The Pride Week celebrations kick-off at 4 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 14) at the Cochrane RancheHouse with the second annual Pride Flag raising. The flag-raising will feature guest speakers and marks the start of a week full of festivities.
On Monday (Aug. 16) BGC will be hosting a youth drop-in event featuring Pride activities. Humes said Pride events hosted by the BGC will feature free Pride swag for youth. The club is also hoping to have Pride t-shirts available to help celebrate the week. The design of the t-shirt was selected through a contest held by the BGC.
On Tuesday (Aug. 17) the Pride crew will be heading out to Stoney Nakoda First Nation to celebrate and share in Pride activities.
BGC Pride Week activities ends Friday (Aug. 20) with a free family-friendly drag-show in the parking lot outside the BGC Club.
Humes added young people in the community helped make the festivities a reality and she hope to see the community come out and support their vision.
The drag show begins at 5 p.m. in the Club Parking lot and will feature legendary drag performers Argentina Hailey, Simon Sir Real, Penny Tense and Visa Deklein.
“For the drag show we’re hoping that the wider community also comes out to because it’s family-friendly, anyone is welcome, it’s outside so we have lots of room,” Humes said. “Come and celebrate.”
For more information on Pride Week Plans visit the BGC Cochrane's Facebook page.
