Members of the Grande Prairie Pride Society help re-paint the Grande Prairie Pride sidewalk for pride month in June. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

By Shane Clausing

Grande Prairie Pride crosswalk

Grande Prairie Pride Crosswalk gets fresh coat of paint

Jun 9, 2020 | 11:58 AM

Grande Prairie’s Pride Crosswalk (located on 98 Street and 103 Avenue) got a fresh coat of paint on Tuesday.

The crosswalk gets a fresh coat of paint every June to help the pride community celebrate Pride Month.

The re-painting of the crosswalk began at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday morning and just over a dozen members of the Grande Prairie Pride Society showed up to help re-paint it.

It’s an event that was met with applause from the pride community as a majority of pride events organized by the Grande Prairie Pride Society have had to be rescheduled to November or moved online because of COVID-19.

“Our hope is just (for this) to be a little bit of a morale booster to get everybody’s hopes up, with pride being postponed until November,” said Myles Keller, a board member with the Grande Prairie Pride Society. “It’s just nice to get out and show everybody that we’re still here and the community is alive and well.”

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The crosswalk isn’t just meant for the pride community. Lloyd Fischer, the Vice President of the Grande Prairie Pride Society, says events like this help bring the entire community of Grande Prairie together.

“It’s a great opportunity to show how diverse Grande Prairie is, but more importantly pride is about equality for everyone. Not only if you identify on the spectrum, but for allies and everyone in the community to show that we’re all the same, and it’s all about love, peace and joy, so the crosswalk certainly represents that.”

In years past, after the crosswalk has been repainted it has been met with vandalism. Just last week in Dawson Creek, the Pride Crosswalk there was vandalized and damaged.

Fischer says that while he acknowledges these things happen and have happened here in Grande Prairie in the past, the pride community and community of Grande Prairie are resilient.

“Is it concerning for us? Not really, I think Grande Prairie is a really supportive community. Will there be the bad apples? Of course. I think what we really try to focus on is those people are obviously having their own struggles and their own things that they are fighting. Again, we just go back to the message of equality and what we are here to promote which is a really inclusive environment and focus on the positives.”

The crosswalk that gets re-painted every year and is fully funded by the Pride Society through sponsors.