Winnipegosis LGBTQ community 'overwhelmed' by support at 1st Pride event

Winnipegosis, a small, rural town northwest of Winnipeg, hadnever hosted a Pride event until Saturday, when the town gathered to celebrate its LGBTQcommunity.

Acceptance and support in the town of 600 shows the event was needed, says Cyndie Blythe, the president of the planning committee.

"It's rural Manitoba. It's never been done before. That doesn't mean that there aren't people here who want and need this," Blythe said in an interview over Zoom.

The day's activities started with hot dog carts, face painting andtattoos, followeda parade with floats later in the afternoon. The evening events includea dinner 96 tickets had been sold when Blythe spoke to the CBC Saturday morning followed by a drag show.

The nine-member committee started planning the event last May, Blythe says, and they chose August to avoid clashes with similar events in larger areas because they wanted drag queens from Winnipeg to attend.

Jordan Hucaluk, vice president of the planning committee, says he's grateful that people from other communities across Manitoba showed interest.

"We've got people coming from Brandon, so that's two hours away,"Hucaluk said."We've got people coming from Dauphin, which is 45 minutes away.We've people from other surrounding communities. It's just awesome to see."

'Gay and wonderful'

Blythe and her wife, Alison Carleton, moved to Winnipegosis from the United States five years ago.She said they had some "trepidation," not knowing what kind of welcome they might receive in rural Manitoba.

She says the town embraced them, something she believes showed others in the town the possibility to be open about what they are feeling.

"As a result of us being so welcomed here some of the younger members of the community have actually had the courage to actually come out as gay, as trans, as questioning," she said.

She says she wants to create a world where people, especially younger members of the community, feel proud to be whomever they choose to be.

"It took me until I was in my mid-40s to not just accept myself, but come to a place where I could celebrate myself and say, 'You know what? Not only am I OK, not only am I gay and OK, but I'm gay and wonderful.' It is wonderful to be this," she said.

Hucaluk also says hisown experience propelled him to help organize the day's events.

Though he is recently engaged to his partner of three years, he says it wasn't always easy for him be openly gay.

"It was very hard for me to be who I was growing up. I was in the closet for 22 years until I told myself that it was OK,"Hucaluk said."I would not wish that upon anybody."