North Peace Pride Society prepares for 10th annual FSJ Pride Walk and Festival

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — With Pride Month just a few weeks away, preparations are underway in the energetic city for the 10th annual Fort St. John Pride Walk and Festival.

Jessica Beaumont, the vice president of the North Peace Pride Society, says the event is happening on June 7th this year at Centennial Park, adding she’s “never been more excited” for the free annual event.

“Pride, for me, stands for not having to hide, and for being able to just be proud of what you do, and to think that Fort St. John has been able to do Pride for 10 years, it’s super exciting.”

Booths will be set up at the park by 1 p.m., with speeches starting an hour later to introduce new attendees to the Pride Society and the event’s sponsors.

“After that, we’re going to kick it off with our walk,” Beaumont says. “We’ve got an amazing sound system planned by Sound in Town, they’ve done it every year and we love the way the sound comes out. As we walk, we’ll just have some music playing.”

Following the walk, Beaumont says the event will feature an amateur drag performance by some local talent, live musical performances by a local band called Money Shift and a 19+ dance.

New to the festivities this year is a talent show, which Beaumont says can accommodate everything from musical performances to showing off arts and crafts like knitting in a public display area.

“We’ve been doing Pride in our community for ten years now, with the Pride walk,” Beaumont explains, “and now we want to see what you’re proud of.”

Anyone interested in performing during the show can sign up by contacting the society on Facebook or via email. The registration deadline is Saturday, May 23rd.