We are thrilled to announce that after meeting with Ben at the Rocky Mountain House Public Library, Rocky Pride officially has a partner! Ben was very keen to partner with Rocky Pride to ensure that the queer community has a safe space to meet. We will be hosting our future events at the library and will soon be announcing plans for our October programming. A wonderful suggestion that was given at Market on Main was to host a queer adult book club which we are looking forward to kick starting early in October once we get a schedule planned. We also will be starting a youth movie night which will feature films that encompass our values and mandate. Join us on September 28, 2019 from 2-4 pm for an open house drop in at the library! We've planned this event as a stepping stone to future programs because we feel that it's imperative to hear from our community prior to moving forward. Bring ideas to the table! We want to hear from you!
Last month, Rocky Pride attended the last Market on Main of the season. For those of you who haven't been before, Market on Main is an event that takes place every Thursday evening during the summer. It's held on Main St in Rocky Mountain House and is an opportunity for vendors to sell items, promote their business, and offer entertainment. It's a great time to get fresh produce, listen to some live music, and eat delicious food. Sierra and I started Rocky Pride two weeks before the last market was held and we jumped on the opportunity to get the word out that our group is present in the community. We were nervous to present ourselves to the community for the first time but we were also SO excited. Our hope was to get at least a couple of names on our Newsletter list. We didn't expect for a moment that our list would be full by the end of the evening with people who were eager to take part in our group! As we had never had a booth at the market before, Kelly and I arrived to the site and were a little bit lost on how to set up. Luckily we met a lovely person who showed us the ropes and got us set up. Some last minute modifications to our booth on a very windy day and we were ready to go. Kelly was the brains behind the operation as she got our car photobooth looking fantastic (aside from Sam's terribly messy car that needed a wash). Not only did she get the photobooth set up, she also walked up and down the street encouraging people to see our booth! And it worked! We had so many wonderful people take photos at our photobooth and take part in our contest supported by Rocky Cinemas who generously gave us two tickets to give away to our winner! Shortly after we set up our operation, Sierra was able to join us following her daily commute from Blackfalds and together we were able to meet the most incredible people. We were (and still are) completely overwhelmed with the positive response to our group and the love that was shared that day. Thrilling doesn't even begin to cover how amazing it was to hear peoples stories, both people in the LGBTQ2S+ community and allies. We cannot wait to get started on programming and advocating for our community and it is with the response from our presence at the market that we go forward knowing that support and love is out there.
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Sam ChisholmCo-founder of Rocky Pride. ArchivesCategories |