By Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

Lethbridge City Council approves $30K in funding for 2018 Pride Fest 10 year celebrations

Dec 11, 2017 | 5:30 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Ten years ago, Pride celebrations in Lethbridge consisted of a small barbeque in the river valley, and a dance that occured each month.
 
“These dances were advertised by word of mouth and in The Occasion, which is Lethbridge’s queer newsletter,” explains Pride Fest Treasurer, Derrick Antson. “You basically had to know someone who knows someone in order to get an invite.”
 
Now, he says people are knocking on their doors asking how they can become part of the festivities.
 
At Monday’s city council meeting (Dec. 11) members of the 2018 Pride Fest Committee asked for a $30,000 grant to be used during the 10 year celebrations next July.
 
Antson explained that the money would go towards a number of entertainment, family, and social engagement activities, including making “Pride in the Park” bigger and better.
 
“We are going to say yes to everything. We are bringing in speakers to talk about trans issues, talk about two spirit, talk about queer family issues…we’re also going to be bringing in different big name acts to perform at different events, but those are still under wraps, so stay tuned.”
 
During a debate on which fund the money could come from, councillors Joe Mauro and Blaine Hyggen said that while they supported the event, there were a number of corporate sponsors already, and they didn’t feel spending the $30,000 was a wise use of taxpayer dollars. Mayor Chris Spearman echoed those sentiments at first.
 
However, Councillor Ryan Parker suggested that the city spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on sporting events regularly.
 
“I don’t put merit on it as a five year or 10 year event. I put it as the right thing to do…at the end of the day, it’s the right thing to do.”
 
Spearman ultimately changed his mind and the request was approved by a 7-2 vote. The money will come from the Council Contingency Fund, which will have an excess of $117,000 in 2018. 
 
If Pride Fest had not been approved, they still had a $5,000 commitment from the Heart of Our City fund. That money will now be re-allocated, says Antson.
 
“So the way the city policies are, you can only access money from one pot of the other. So the way timelines were running, we had to apply for the Heart of the City grant, knowing that we were coming to this. The Heart of the City body knew we were applying for this one and built in contingencies so if we were approved they already have plans on how to re-allocate the money.”
 
Derrick says all but one of the events at Pride Fest are free for the public.
 
“We’re excited. We’re over the moon. It shows how far Lethbridge has come as a community, and it’s really going to be the biggest and best pride festival yet.”
 
Pride Fest 2018 takes place from June 15-23.