Tony Tavares was spending time with his partner and a friend when they began kidding around about starting a Pride group in the small community of Norwood.
It turns out, they were on to something. Their conversation lay the foundation for the formation of Norwood Pride.
The group held its first event in 2017, and proceeded to continue hosting events, which now typically attract more than 200 people to the eastern Peterborough County community.
“My partner, Shane Hodge, and I were just hanging out with our friend, Braden Clark, and we jokingly said we should start a Norwood Pride,” Tavares, Norwood Pride board director and media officer, told kawarthaNOW.
“Once we’d said it, it started to sound like a good idea, so we went ahead and organized our first event.”
Norwood Pride is gearing up for its 2024 offering, which runs from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 14 at the Norwood branch of the Royal Canadian Legion at 27 King St. in Norwood.
The afternoon features a barbecue, cash bar, music, and performances and story time with Betty Baker, a professional drag performer, speaker, and storyteller from Peterborough.
It’s a family-friendly event for all ages, Tavares said, noting there will also be a children’s activity table on site.
Despite Tavares’ initial kidding about the concept of having Norwood Pride, the event serves serious purposes.
“Visibility is important in small towns for both young people coming out or discovering their sexuality, and for older LGBTQ+ residents who have previously felt isolated,” Tavares explained.
“Larger communities have community services specifically for LGBTQ+ people that are not available in smaller communities.”
“From our very first discussion on having a Norwood Pride, we felt that if there was one community member who felt safer, more seen, and accepted from seeing the community acceptance that has always been clearly present at our Norwood Pride events, then all our efforts would be worthwhile.”
Considering more about the function of Norwood Pride in the community, Tavares said its role may also be more disclosed.
“The reality is that we will never know the positive effects an event like this will have. If there is one person who doesn’t take their life because they realized they could find acceptance in their community, then that would be priceless. I’ve also had people over the years come up to me and say that they had never met a gay person, that they knew of, or been to a Pride event, and how much they had enjoyed it. Visibility is essential.”
Norwood Pride strives to always offer a small, community-focused event and Tavares said from his perspective, that’s still the case.
“We did not have Norwood Pride over the pandemic and our hope is to get people out in pre-pandemic numbers again — and to have fun.”
For more information about Norwood Pride, visit norwoodpride.ca.
This story has been updated to correct a misspelling of Braden Clark’s surname.
