Sudbury Pride releases details for Pride Week in July

Sudbury Pride has announced event details for its Pride Week next month.

At the Sudbury Indie Cinema on Thursday, the organization unveiled the pride events running July 9-16.

Kyelle Byne, sponsorship lead, said the group is expecting a high turnout this year after record-breaking attendance in 2022.

"Last year we came out of the pandemic where we'd done two years of virtual events and we weren't quite sure how many people we were going to expect," Byne said.

"As the week went on momentum grew and we had people who went out on Friday and said 'I would have come on Tuesday but we didn’t know it was happening.’"

Pride Week will begin with its inaugural 2-Sprirt Pow Wow Social, led by Indigenous drummers and dancers at Science North.

The opening ceremonies will outline support for 2SLGTBQ+ community and allies. The week's flagship event, Pride Day in the Park, will happen on July 15.

"We're going to have a full day of performers,” Byne said.

“There's going to be drag artists, live art installations. There's going to be opportunities to participate in live art installations and games and vendors, and then the march itself which is part of that day.”

Drawing on its success from last year, there will also be the Youth Pride Prom, which Byne organized and said is near and dear to her heart.

"To be in a room with 200 queer kids who came up to me and said 'I didn’t get to dress like this for my prom, I didn’t feel safe to be myself at my high school prom and thank you for creating this space,'" Byne said.

"It's special."

She said there will be a dedicated safety committee who will put together a plan for volunteers, board members and community members to ensure the safety of all attendees.

"There is always a risk of safety and a risk of hostility from people in the community that don’t understand what we're trying to do," Byne said.

"We're just trying to create a place where people can celebrate and be themselves and just know they are valid and they don’t need to fight to exist."

She said the federal government has allocated $1.5 million to Fierte Canada Pride, the organization sponsoring the 2-Spirit Pow Wow Social. Byne said the organization will be rolling out details in the coming weeks on how Pride organizations can tap into additional funding for increased safety measures.

"So that money will go to equipping our volunteers, making sure that they have access to professional training in de-escalating strategies," she said.

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At the end of the day, the goal is to show that Sudbury is a safe space.

"If you're an ally, if you're someone who wants to be an ally and you're not sure how to do that, please come, celebrate with us," she said.

"Take the opportunity to learn how you can be a part of the community and advocate for the community to see how we can all be connected." 

A full schedule of events is available on Sudbury Pride's website.