SASKATOON — Spark Your Pride event returns as an in-person event after being held virtually the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sharing Our Stories: Queering our Proud Prairie Past is set on Tuesday, June 14, at the Western Development Museum from 12:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. as part of Pride Week.
This also marks the first time that event will be expanding its reach across Saskatchewan through a virtual space that aims to build a larger, more diverse and stronger community.
Spark Your Pride wants to share its message wider as a way to empower, connect and celebrate the many stories of the lives of Saskatchewan’s LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit peoples.
Spark Your Pride and WDM are back as partners in this fourth annual event as they co-host a panel that will lead demonstrations, interactive workshops, music and poetry.
Other social activities are also lined-up as part of bringing together Saskatchewan’s entire queer community including their family members and allies.
Members of the 2SLGBTQ+ will share the diverse stories of their past and present lives, culture and accomplishments.
This is a one-of-kind celebration during Pride Week that aims to close gaps between the past and present narratives that helped shape the province’s 2SLGBTQ+ community.
Event chair Cheryl Loadman said members of the province’s 2SLGBTQ+ community each have a story to share.
“Spark Your Pride provides space and time for queer people to honour their unique history, to speak of their triumphs and resilience in their voice and in their way. Everyone has a history; some are just better known than others,” said Loadman.
Dr. Merle Massie, Ph.D., the award-winning author of A Radiant Life: The Honourable Sylvia Fedoruk, will be the keynote speaker as she opens the event by talking about the hidden story of a Saskatchewan public figure.
Various workshops will be held later in the afternoon and the event concludes with a dinner and presentations by the University of Saskatchewan Neil Richards’ Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity, and the “Queer Seniors on the Prairies: An Oral History Project” by WDM.
