West End kicks off celebrating a smaller Pride weekend

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Typically it’s a busy long weekend in Vancouver, from fireworks to Pride. While COVID-19 has changed the game, some smaller events start Friday in the West End.

The Vancouver Pride Society is capping festivities at 125 people and you need to register, but Executive Director Andrea Arnot says there won’t be the big parade on Sunday.

“Between 50 and 125 people at a time for a timeslot, and people have to register in advance or have a ticket to attend, because we want to be very careful with contact tracing,” Arnot says.

Hearing a mixture of reactions, Arnot says it is just not the right time to be holding a parade.

“If we would have held the parade, it draws crowds of hundreds of thousands of people,” she says.

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Vaccination against COVID-19 won’t be mandatory, but Arnot noted the Vancouver Pride Society considered it.

“We need to figure out if there are legalities and provincial health guidelines, before we would implement something like that,” she says.

Stephen Regan, with the West End Business Improvement Association, says despite no big parade on Sunday, businesses still expect to be busy.

“They’ve got a number of things lined up that are interesting, fun for smaller groups, an Artwalk and some other elements. So we think it’s going to be a good Pride and next year we just hope we’re back to full on greatness,” he says.

Regan is thankful for the smaller events, but hotels will be missing out.

“The international border closing is really a challenge for an international scale event like Pride in Vancouver,” he says.