Pride celebrations take over the Comox Valley this weekend
Displayed outside of Comox Valley Art Gallery at the 2025 Pride Party celebrations. (Comox Valley Art Gallery)
The Comox Valley is kicking off Pride Weekend tonight with a Pride party at the Comox Valley Art Gallery in downtown Courtenay.
It’s one of several events to celebrate pride in the Comox Valley this weekend.
Jojo Jaeger is the president of Queer Centre Comox Valley. He talked about the wide range of activities coming up.
“There's so much. There's two film screenings. There's the Fruit Cup Pride Party is back. Queer Coffee, we've been doing Queer Coffee for over a year now. It's something that happens every single week, and it's grown so much over the past year. But we do a special Pride event on Sunday. Patty Savard is doing drag brunch at Gladstones. Queers and Cheers is doing another Pride event at Ace. I think 17 or 18 events,” said Jaeger.
For the Comox Valley, the weekend is a chance to celebrate queer life and diversity throughout the community.
The Pride celebrations continue Saturday with the Pride Parade, which begins at 11:30 a.m. at Harmston Park before making its way down Fifth street to Lewis Park for Pride in the Park.
Pride in the Park runs from 12:00 noon to 3:30 p.m. The event will feature food trucks, vendors and local artists.
“Queer Center's goal is just to elevate and show what everybody else is doing. Out of 17 it is, every single one of these events is represented by a different group of queer community that is organized and is putting on, hosting their own event with their own individual flavour into it. It's a festival, but it's not a festival put on any, by any one organization. It's a festival put on by the entire community. Beyond that, it's also like every single event, serves different needs, serves different people. And that means that all different levels of accessibility are covered, for the most part. It means that everybody has a different way that they're able to engage with Pride,” said Jaeger.
Other events include Pride on Tap at Ace Brewing Company Saturday night, followed by a Drag Brunch Sunday morning at Gladstone Brewing. The events feature DJ sets and drag performances, and proceeds support Foundry BC.
Jaeger spoke to what he hopes participants will be able to take away from this weekend’s events.
“What I hope for these sorts of events is that they're so big that they allow people to come into community and get connected and stay supported, become healthier, and we all become friends with each other,” said Jaeger.
For more information about Pride events in the Comox Valley, visit queercentre.ca
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.
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