MARATHON – The Town of Marathon saw its first ever Pride Parade on Sunday with over 150 people out to take part in the festivities despite the rain.
With this parade being the first one to be held in the community, organizers felt it necessary to go on rain or shine, taking a “pride takes no breaks, so neither are we” viewpoint according to Elana Armitage, co-organizer, who said that the community's response in the weeks leading up to the event was very positive.
“Everywhere I go, I've got people stopping me, saying, hey, see you Sunday, you know,” she said. “The response on Facebook has been really, really positive it's been a long time coming, so we're really excited.”
Despite the weather, over 150 people participated in the parade and following festival, something that Armitage said goes to show the importance of celebrating pride everywhere.
“Pride is everywhere, and I feel like in smaller communities, people always tend to think, you know, oh well, you know, that doesn't happen here, that's not a thing and we just want everybody to feel, feel welcome and feel included,” she said.
“And it's becoming so much more widely known, widely accepted, that we just feel like, you know, the little communities can start small and just show that, hey, you matter here too.”
The parade started at Lakeview Community Hall and made its way up Stevens Ave, turning onto Peninsula Rd, and then followed Hemlo Dr to Town Hall with a lot of spectators joining in along the way.
“I yelled out along the way that anybody can join in at any time because we wanted this to be accessible,” said Ray Taylor, co-organizer. “So, people who can't do the huge walk we wanted them to know that they could start at any point on the route.”
After the parade attendees were treated to a free Barbecue and had to chance to visit a bunch of different booths including face painting, tattoo stations, information booths, and more.
