The vibe at Big White next weekend may be a bit different than what the locals are used to, but it promises to be 48 hours full of smiles.
After months of planning, the first annual Peak Pride will be taking over Big White from Friday, April 7th to Sunday, April 9th.
Co-founder, Dustyn Baulkham, said the idea started to come to fruition last spring when he was chatting with Katie from Big White’s marketing department.
Baulkham says that people would get the idea that Big White, and other organizations or cities, that don’t blatantly show they’re LGBT friendly simply aren’t LGBT friendly, which is rarely the case.
From there the brainstorms began on how to show the public that Big White was LGBT friendly.
“It started with that first conversation and from there it took a few months to figure out how we show this,” Baulkham explained, at which point the idea to do a pride event in Big White was thrown on the table. “We do one in Kelowna, we one in many cities around the world, why don’t we do one at Big White?”
Initially the discussion about the pride event were between Baulkham and Wilbur Turner, who owns Wine & Art in Kelowna.
As Wine & Art grew, Turner had to step back from Peak Pride, but that’s where Peter Breeze came in.
Are you excited? Big White's first LGBT2Q+ festival #peakpride2017 is 1 only week away! See events: https://t.co/rPRcGvF05N pic.twitter.com/fsmdb4MvYF
— Big White Ski Resort (@BigWhite) March 31, 2017
“In July or August, Peter Breeze started volunteering with the Okanagan Pride Society and I got to know him through that,” said Baulkham. “I thought he’d be a great person to work with as well so that’s when he came into the picture.”
According to Baulkham, him and Breeze balance each other out perfectly and quickly clicked as a great team.
With Breeze on board, Peak Pride took flight and the duo dove full force into the planning.
Baulkham says they learned various things from other pride events, but also wanted to create their own original event for the LGBT community and others in the Okanagan.
“We don’t want it to be the exact same experience as if you went to Whistler, because why would you go to both if they were the same thing,” Baulkam said, referencing Jasper’s pride event as well, which took place earlier in March.
By the sounds of it, that’s exactly what Baulkham, Breeze and the rest of the team involved have done.
Things will get underway with an opening reception at Village Centre Mall on Friday night, featuring Simone Denny as a headlining act and various other DJs and drag queens on hand.
Things will move to Session Taphouse for more of a club night at 10 p.m. on Friday.
On Saturday morning, things will get going with face painting, a selfie booth, cotton candy, popcorn, a bouncy castle and much more in the village.
Patrons are encouraged to arrive by 11 a.m. because there will lead into a ski parade at down to Happy Valley, led by local Olympian Kelsey Serwa.
You don’t need a ski pass to be involved in the parade, just equipment
A lot of the fun from the village will move to Happy Valley, where there will also be a beer garden from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.
“That’s one thing that’ll be unique to us that Jasper and Whistler don’t have,” boasted Baulkham. “An outdoor beer garden that you’d see in the summer, but it will in the snow.”
As Saturday afternoon turns into Saturday evening, Peak Pride will take over the Happy Valley building and Alyssa Edwards will headline the evening festivities.
There is also hope and an expectation of an afterparty at Snowshoe Sams.
Read the latest news from @TheHomoculture on Big White's first LGBT2Q+ festival #peakpride2017 coming up April 7-9: https://t.co/BglGXuHuYT pic.twitter.com/Y79put9lav
— Big White Ski Resort (@BigWhite) March 27, 2017
Peak Pride wraps up with a pair of wind down events on Sunday, including a brunch of Kettle Valley Steakhouse for VIP passholders and a T-Party, which involves a few drinks on the Blarney Stone patio.
All of Baulkham and Breeze’s hard work should turn into a fantastic Peak Pride weekend for anyone who decides to make their way to Big White for the festivities.
You can buy advance tickets online until April 5th and there will be a limited amount of tickets available on site.
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