Pride comes to Norfolk County
After hosting Pride Day in Haldimand County for years, the organization that promotes LGBTQ acceptance in Haldimand-Norfolk is heading west.
“It’s Pride Haldimand Norfolk, but every event’s been in Haldimand. We need to get it to Norfolk,” Pride co-chair Jason Dale told The Spectator.
This year’s Pride celebration will take place in Powell Park in Port Dover on May 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The free festival features live entertainment, a children’s zone, vendors, a “Queer Artists and Allies” artisan market, and speakers sharing stories of inclusivity.
The local library will be on hand with literacy-themed activities and community agencies will have booths offering resources and information.
“It’s open to all,” Dale said.
“By gathering in public, we say to the community that we believe in equal rights for all and that we will stand up for folks who identify as Two Spirit LGBTQIA+.”
The non-profit group usually funds Pride Day through donations, vendor fees and the sale of Pride lawn signs. But this year, Norfolk County council approved a $5,000 grant that Dale said will cover nearly the entire cost of the event, including paying entertainers and security, advertising and promotion, and renting tents, porta-potties and handwashing stations.
“We’re really happy. The county’s been a great partner,” Dale said.
“Now we don’t have such (fundraising) pressure.”
Pride was among seven groups to receive funding out of 28 total applicants to Norfolk’s community grants program, and one of just three recipients to get the entire amount they requested.
Dale said the Pride committee appreciates the current council's efforts “to promote diversity and equity and inclusion,” noting Coun. Kim Huffman has been at every Pride event to date while Mayor Amy Martin vocally supported raising the Pride flag at town hall and has agreed to officially open Pride Day in Port Dover.
Coun. Adam Veri helped organize the Ryder’s Rainbow project led by Simcoe youth Ryder Mandryk, who collected enough donations — including from Pride Haldimand Norfolk — to install rainbow crosswalks in downtown Simcoe and Dover.
Dale said Haldimand-Norfolk has become a more accepting place since the first Pride Day in 2017 attracted protesters to Dunnville’s Central Park.
“There’s no doubt that progress has been made. I see it in my job as a teacher,” said Dale, a high school teacher with the Grand Erie District School Board, which will have a booth at Pride Day for the first time this year.
All Grand Erie high schools, and some elementary schools, have diversity or “everybody belongs” clubs, while the Rainbow Ball — an alternative to a traditional prom designed to celebrate diversity and be a welcoming space for LGBTQ students and allies — has grown from a few dozen kids in 2015 to more than 200 students, along with dozens of teachers and administrators, bussed in at the board’s expense.
“These events are important because they promote the message to a population that probably needs it the most that these are inclusive places, and that Norfolk and Haldimand are safe communities for people who are different,” Dale said.
“It’s not really a homogeneous place anymore. We’ve got diversity in all its forms, and this is just one aspect of it.”
Pride Haldimand Norfolk is still looking for volunteers, vendors and community service agencies to participate in this year’s Pride Day. To sign up or learn more, visit pridehaldimandnorfolk.com or find them on Instagram and Facebook.
J.P. Antonacci, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Hamilton Spectator
