By Chad Ingram
The fifth annual Minden Pride festival will proceed amid the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic with many events taking place virtually.
MindenPride will run Aug. 24 through 30 with festivities kicked off by araising of the rainbow flag at the Minden Hills municipal office onMonday Aug. 24. While residents are normally invited to congregate inthe parking lot for this event at press time the plan was to broadcast the flag-raising on the internet through a video link that will beshared at a later date. The flag raising will take place at 11 a.m.
On the evening of Aug. 24 there will be a free showing of films at Abbey Gardens’ Little Pit Drive-In.
“Watch the award-winning feature film Pariah and short Trevor both dealingwith the challenges of coming out and identifying as lesbian and gay”reads a release from organizers. In addition there will be two surprise videos.
Gates open at 7 p.m. with the films shown at dusk. Thereis a 30-car limit so those wishing to attend are asked to pre-registerat abbeygardens.ca/
Pizza beer and treats will be available by advanced order and there will beprizes for the best-decorated vehicle. The rain date for the show isAug. 25.
Tuesday Aug. 25 will see the launch of Building Businessin our Community a video produced by Sticks and Stones Media andfocusing on the community of Minden Pride. The video will be broadcastat 7 p.m. followed by a discussion on online teleconferencing platformZoom and those interested are asked to pre-register at curtaintalk@mindenpride.ca .
The launch of video Our Community Speaks Out also produced by Sticks andStones is set to launch at 7 p.m. on Wednesday Aug. 26 with thoseinterested again asked to pre-register at curtaintalk@mindenpride.ca
A virtual Minden Pride trivia night will take place from 8 to 9:30 p.m.on Thursday Aug. 27. Hosted by Jack Brezina and Sean Pennylegion theevening will be a test of LGBTQ+2 trivia and will take place via Zoom. A fun team name and email address will be required for each team andthose interested in playing are asked to register by noon on Aug. 27 byemailing trivianight@mindenpride.ca .
On Friday Aug. 28 you’re invited to put on your dancing shoes and shakeyour booty online at the Completely Outrageous Virtually IncredibleDance Party which will run from 8 to 10 p.m. Dancers are asked toregister at COVIDparty@mindenpride.ca . There will be door prizes for the best costumes.
On Saturday Aug. 29 Mindenites are invited to show their pride bywearing their pride colours around town at the farmers’ market orfloating down the Gull River. Share your photos on social media bytagging Minden Pride which is active on Instagram Facebook and TikTok.
Finally this year’s Minden Pride will wrap up with amulti-faith service led by Rev. Max Ward of the Highland Hills UnitedChurch on Sunday. Aug. 30.. That ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. and those interested are asked to pre-register at multifaith@mindenpride.ca