It was a busy week of events from Aug. 10 to 20 in New Westminster, with Pride front and centre in the city. This included the Street Festival, which took place on Saturday in the Downtown core along Columbia St.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! New West showed up in a huge way [on Saturday, Aug. 19] to share joy and love. This was our busiest street festival yet, and we couldn’t do it without your support,” reads a post from the New West Pride Facebook page, which added in the same post that the group will still need help paying off the event.

On Twitter/X, New Westminster-Burnaby MP Peter Julian said approximately 40,000 people came out to Downtown New West to attend the Saturday festival.

From the Pie for Pride contest at the Farmers Market, to Drag Storytime at the New West Public Library, and even the opening of New West’s first year-round Queer Art Gallery at Moodswing, the week had something for everyone. At the heart of these events were a group of volunteers who worked to make it all happen.

“Pride every day”

If you take a moment to visit the NWPS Twitter/X page, three little words in the group's bio perfectly sum up the crux of this piece: pride every day.

While the festivities are considered done, that’s not the case for the work happening behind the scenes at the New West Pride Society (NWPS) according to NWPS vice-president Kevin Lee. Lee says the group has been getting creative through a variety of out-of-the-box ways to promote the work they’re doing.

“Working with the City of New Westminster we have started regular swims for the LGBTQ+ community. It appears only a handful of cities are doing this throughout Canada. The city has been an ally by hosting these events and following the guidance that our society has provided. It is our hope that there will be further regular programming for our LGBTQ+ community in the near future,” Lee tells The Anchor.

“In addition to the regular swims Pride has a year-round Pride Gallery at Moodswing. Our first Pride exhibit features young [artists] from our New West community. The aim is to have six exhibits throughout the year,” Lee noted, adding that anyone who is interested in participating should reach out to them directly.

NWPS has been under new leadership for nearly a year: the not-for-profit nearly shut down last year because in September, no one had initially put their name forward to become a board member.

After a public appeal, a new board took on the challenge in October—one of those members included Katie Stobbart, who serves as president.

“It just made me feel like there was this need in the community that I could help fill, and it made me sad to see that this organization was so near closing,” Stobbart then told New West Anchor. Everyone who supports the group’s mission is welcome to join.

“Yes, there is a spot for you, and one of the challenges I think working towards inclusion is that it has to be done, nothing for us without us. We need people from diverse parts of the community, diverse parts of the queer community to come in and tell us the direction… because I can’t tell you as a white person what the correct way is to go forward,” Stobbart elaborated.

If you haven’t had the chance, be sure to get to know the board through their website. You can also give them a follow on their social media channels, including on Instagram, Facebook, and X/Twitter. Lastly, the group is always looking for volunteers. If you’d like to help out, take a look at this page to learn more about signing up.

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