The Minto Pride committee held their first ever winter event yesterday afternoon.
The “Winter Rainbow Social” was held in the basement of the Harriston Library, and was well attended by people of all ages. Committee member Samantha Greer says the idea was to get the community together and celebrating inclusion in a fun social setting.
“There’s not a lot to do around town, and this gets the kids out, it’s Family Day weekend and in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we just thought we’d have this little social gathering, just to kind of bridge the gap between now and June, and trying to get some events out there so people can come out and mingle.”
The Minto Pride committee’s summer event “Pride in the Park” will be back this year on June 13th at the Lion’s Park in Palmerston. Fellow committee member Jess Rowden says like their first event “Pride in the Park”, yesterday’s event drew people of all ages supporting LGBTQ rights and inclusion.
“We had folks that were there that were queer identified, we had people that were there as allies, we had people that were there for information, we had young families and we had people that were living in our community for many decades.”
Rowden says it’s very encouraging to see so many different people coming out to be supportive and show that Minto wants to be seen as an inclusive community for all. That included Minto Mayor George Bridge, who has been supportive of the group from the start, and he says having a group like Minto Pride in the area has been great for the community.
“Well it’s very important for our community for everyone to realize that we are very big on inclusion, and this group has been great and they’ve done a great job. From the first summer one last year, and another one coming June 13th, and now this winter one. I was even able to bring my granddaughter here.”
Mayor Bridge says he looks forward to the summer event happening again, and that he and Minto Council have been extremely impressed and proud of the educational work that the Minto Pride committee has been doing, and that council has learned a lot about the LGBTQ community locally and at large. . For more information or to get involved with Minto Pride, check them out on Facebook or email mintopridecommittee@gmail.com.
A great turnout at the Harriston Library for the first ever Minto Pride "Winter Rainbow Social", with Minto Mayor George Bridge front and centre in attendance with his granddaughter. February 15th, 2020 (Photo by Ryan Drury)