'Where they can just be themselves': Pride events growing in smaller cities, rural areas around Hamilton

The first Pride event in Binbrook, a community in the southeastern corner of Hamilton's municipal limits, was 12 people gathered around a park bench outside a Tim Hortons.

Cohen Glaw created a Facebook event that year, in 2021, and put the word out about the meetup, says Kasha Czech, a drag performer who grew up in the community in the pre-Pride era and is now one of its coordinators. 

"About 12 people showed up," she said. "It was just a small little get together."

That was only three years ago, but now the suburban area's Pride celebration has blossomed into a day-long festival at the Binbrook Fairgrounds, with this year's incarnation running this Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m. It will include music, vendors, comedy and food, and a drag show that Czech is co-hosting.

She said the rapid growth of the event shows how much demand there was in the community for a way to celebrate Pride at home, but also reflects the population growth in Binbrook, which has seen an influx of new residents.

Following a year where drag storytimes and other drag events were widely targeted across the country, Czech said it warms her heart to know she will be celebrating the iconic queer performance style in the community where she grew up.

"The times we are in now, having drag events in small communities has become a little bit of a challenge because there is so much misinformation online about what drag is," she said. "It is a queer art form. We can make it family-friendly."

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Recalling her youth in Binbrook, Czech noted that without public transportation connecting the community to the rest of Hamilton, it can be isolating for queer people unable to access Pride celebrations in larger centres. 

That motivation, to bring Pride to the people where they are, is a driver for her and her team at Binbrook Pride, much as it is for Jason Dale, co-chair of Pride Haldimand-Norfolk.

The organization held its annual Pride celebrations at Powell Park, on the main street of Port Dover, last weekend, the first time doing so in Norfolk County and likewise in a central location.

"This is in the centre of town," noting previous years' events had been held largely off the beaten track and exclusively in Haldimand County. "We had walk-in traffic."

Dale noted new residents to the rural area have helped change the tone towards people in 2SLGBTQ+ communities, but also believes it's simply a function of society evolving.

"When they first started [Pride Haldimand-Norfolk], the lawn signs were often stolen or damaged," said Dale, who grew up in the area and moved away, later moving back with his husband and adopting children. "This year, there was not one incident."