Pride Parade set for this weekend; downtown road closures to be in place
Thousand of Winnipeggers hit the streets Sunday for the annual Pride Winnipeg Rally and Parade. (Source: Daniel Timmerman/CTV Winnipeg)
The Pride Parade is set to take over downtown Winnipeg on Sunday, bringing with it a celebration of those who support or identify with the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
The theme of this year's event is 'Rise in Pride, Stand in Strength'—a call to action to come together and celebrate both resistance and joy. Sally Papso, an oral historian and youth counsellor; Ivory Neufeld, a Grade 8 student working to make their school a safer place; and Manitoba Moon Voices Inc., an organization that empowers Indigenous women and gender-diverse people, will serve as this year's grand marshals.
Before the parade, a rally will be held at the Manitoba Legislative Building at 10 a.m. The parade will then begin at 11 a.m., travelling through Memorial Boulevard, Portage Avenue, Main Street, and William Stevenson Parkway.
CTV News Winnipeg will live-stream the event.
Parade to bring road closures
To facilitate the Winnipeg Pride Parade, roads will be closed in downtown Winnipeg over the weekend.
Northbound Hargrave Street between Bannatyne Avenue and William Avenue will be closed from 6 a.m. on Friday until 5 p.m. on Saturday.
The following closures will then be in place from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday:
Memorial Boulevard in both directions from Broadway to York Avenue.
Northbound Memorial Boulevard from York Avenue to Portage Avenue.
Eastbound Portage Avenue from Memorial Boulevard to Main Street.
Southbound Main Street from Portage Avenue to William Stephenson Way.
Eastbound William Stephenson Way from Main Street to Israel Asper Way.
Province providing funding for Place of Pride
Ahead of Sunday's Pride Parade, the Manitoba government announced it's giving an additional $2.5 million to Place of Pride—the province's first 2SLGBTQ+ campus. This brings the total commitment to the project to $5.5 million.
The new funding, which was announced on Thursday, will allow the construction of the Place of Pride community hub to begin this fall. This 12,000-square-foot community centre will feature meeting spaces, a kitchen, café, a rooftop patio, counselling rooms, a community green space, and a courtyard.
'This is about more than just building. It's about creating a place where our community can finally feel at home,' said Patrick O'Reilly, Place of Pride's capital campaign chair, in a news release.
'We are so grateful to the Province of Manitoba for ensuring we can provide that space for a community that deserves a place to call their own.'
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