Rainy River Pride has organized a series of community events, thanks to a ParticipAction grant
As we venture into another year of the pandemic, not only have businesses gotten creative on how to offer their services, but events in the community have as well, and Rainy River Pride is one such event.
Rainy River Pride is virtual this year and has offered virtual HIIT workout, total body workout, kids yoga and trauma sensitive hatha yoga classes.
Krista Anderson, co-planner of Rainy River Pride, said they were able to offer these events because of the ParticipAction grant they received. Anderson added that they partnered with the Town of Rainy River to apply for the grant, which allowed them to offer low to zero cost opportunities to get active for Pride month.
“The intent when we applied was that we would offer virtual classes with the possibility of a larger in person event if allowed,” Anderson said. “We wanted to make sure that our activities were promoting health and giving something fun to get our community involved in pride month even if we were still not able to gather.”
Anderson said they liked the idea of offering something that people could do in the comfort of their home and without needing to pay to try something new.
Anderson said the classes have been received well by the community and they have gotten a few comments and emails from people letting them know that they are participating. As an incentive, to encourage more local people, they have created a Pride Passport, where people can track their participation in whichever activities they’ve done. If they submit that back to Anderson by July 5, they’ll be entered to win prizes.
“It’s a fun way to get people involved and gives them an excuse to get out and get active,” Anderson said.
Chelsea Greig, co-planner of Rainy River Pride is a registered yoga teacher and did the kids yoga class, but said they were able to get instructors from across the community to make a workout video, such as yoga instructor Riley Keast from Fort Frances.
“It was really nice to have the local people do it,” Anderson said. “It also helps us expand our reach, because then each of our instructors was able to also promote the activities through their social media channels and contacts.”
Anderson said it is not too late in the month to take part in the activities and encourages the community to join in on the fun.
The first year of Rainy River Pride was in 2019, but due to pandemic restrictions last year, Greig said they encouraged the community to celebrate on their own and to document it and from those submissions they compiled them into a video.
Greig added that it would be nice to do a Pride walk next year like they did in 2019, because it was a big hit.
Yesterday, Rainy River Pride launched a virtual book club, and they are encouraging people to stream the Netflix film The Prom on June 30, which is an LGBTQ+ movie. Afterward, Greig said they will be doing movie trivia.
To learn more about the Rainy River Pride events and how to get involved you can visit their Facebook page.
