The Edmonton Pride Festival (commonly known as Edmonton Pride) was an LGBTQ2S+ pride festival, held annually in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

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."Edmonton Pride Festival draws crowds"

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, June 8, 2013. The event was organized by the Edmonton Pride Festival Society, a

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, and was previously held in early June each year. Following the cancellation of the Edmonton Pride Festival in 2019, and the following

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in 2020, the Edmonton Pride Festival has not been held from 2018 onwards, with no current plans to relaunch. Unlike many

pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture, queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

s which are held at the end of their associated festival week, Edmonton Pride hosted its parade near the opening of the event."Pride Week kicks off Saturday with popular downtown parade"
''

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...

'', June 7, 2013. As well, the Edmonton Pride Festival Society frequently chose to designate community groups, rather than individuals, as the grand marshals of its parade; in 2012, the parade was led by the trustees of the

Edmonton Public School Board Edmonton Public Schools (legally Edmonton School Division) is the largest public school division in Edmonton, the second largest in Alberta, and the sixth largest in Canada. The division offers a variety of alternative and special needs programs, ...

, and in 2013 the event was led by the Pride Centre of Edmonton, the city's main LGBTQ2S+

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History

The first Pride celebration in Edmonton was held in 1980, and became a weeklong festival in 1983. The event has its roots in the protest movement against a police raid on the Pisces Spa, a gay bathhouse, on May 30, 1981. However, unlike

Pride Week LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sh ...

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, which also had its roots in police protests against Operation Soap, the parade did not become a regular feature of the event until the early 1990s. The 2013 festival was opened with the raising of the

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at CFB Edmonton on June 7, the first time in Canadian history that the flag was flown at a

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. The parade on June 8 followed 102 Avenue between 107 Street and Churchill Square."Pride Parade draws thousands of kids and families to Churchill Square"
''

'', June 9, 2013. An estimated 30,000 spectators turned out for the event. Performers at the parade event included singer-songwriters Rae Spoon,

Jeffery Straker Jeffery Straker is a Canadian folk/roots singer-songwriter, based in Punnichy, Saskatchewan. His piano-based folk/roots musical style has drawn comparisons to Kris Kristofferson, Elton John, Neil Young, and Rufus Wainwright Biography Early lif ...

and

Kim Kuzma Kim Kuzma is a Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are ...

. As of 2017, the Edmonton Pride Parade had 50,000 attendees. On June 9, 2018, a group of protesters from within the community temporarily stopped the parade demanding law enforcement and military members be dis-invited from the parade and future parades due to community experiences of fear and discomfort with the police. After a period of negotiation between the parade organizers and protest organizers, parade organizers agreed to the requests of the protest and issued a statement that it "agreed with the demands, and that police and military members would not march in the parade until the community feels that they have taken the necessary steps for all community members to feel safe with their presence." The Board of Directors announced on April 10, 2019 that following the results of their vote, the 2019 Edmonton Pride Festival would not go as planned. They cited the "current political and social environment" would prevent them from hosting an enjoyable and safe festival."2019 Edmonton Pride Festival cancelled"

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, April 10, 2019.

References

{{LGBT in Canada Pride parades in Canada Festivals in Edmonton LGBT in Alberta 1981 establishments in Alberta