Out on the Shelf

Many major Canadian cities run their own Pride events including Toronto, London, Vancouver, and Kitchener-Waterloo. A number of Guelphites felt Guelph needed its own Pride events because Guelph’s queer community was growing. As a result, a group of people from the queer community came together and planned a picnic for June 14, 2003 at Royal City Park. The event was sponsored by Guelph Queer Equality and Tri-Pride.

In 2006, the Guelph Pride Committee decided not to run a picnic. After much brainstorming, they decided to run a dance. The Guelph Pride dance continues to this day and is one of the most popular events. In 2008, the committee decided to make Guelph Pride more than ‘just a dance’ in order to attract a wider demographic. That year, Out On The Shelf’s Pride Patrol ran a Youth Movie Night, the Bookshelf hosted a dinner and a movie event, and a brunch at the Red Brick café took place the morning after the dance. That year was also the first year of the flag raising, ceremony at which Mayor Farbridge spoke and has continued to speak since. In 2009, a sex positivity workshop was added to the week’s events. In 2010, Guelph Pride offered its first ever symposium titled ‘A for Awareness’ at which Helen Kennedy from EGALE spoke. Guelph Spoken Word also hosted an event and donated their proceeds to Guelph Pride. In 2011, the president of the Canadian Auto Workers Union Local 1917 spoke along with the mayor at the flag raising ceremony. In 2012, attendance was much higher and Guelph Pride ran its first ever Cabaret event in collaboration with Guelph Spoken Word. As well, the president of CUPE Ontario, Fred Hahn, spoke at the flag raising ceremony.

In Winter 2013, to better engage University of Guelph students with Guelph Pride events, the committee decided to run a separate Pride festival called Winter Pride. In May 2013, Guelph Pride celebrated its 10th anniversary. For the first time, Guelph Pride held an event to engage Guelph’s seniors which was successful and documented by the Guelph Mercury. The Guelph Civic Museum, in collaboration with Guelph Pride, displayed an exhibit profiling Guelph’s queer history. Guelph Pride, as an organization, has grown tremendously and has had many positive effects on the community. Guelph Pride will continue to grow and engage all members of the community as the years progress.

In 2018, Winter Pride was revived. Winter Pride is a collaboration between a number of LGBTQQIP2SAA community organizations and University of Guelph organizations and clubs to provide the University of Guelph students, faculty, and the community a week to celebrate Pride throughout the school year.  This year there were only two individuals from Guelph Pride involved with Winter Pride, and with the loss of the original Chair, one remaining member on both committees. This individual stepped in as interim Chair for Winter Pride, and the organizing team decided to move from a committee to a non-hierarchical collective governing style and was made up of members from multiple campus and community organizations, as well as individuals from the wider community. There were 19 events in total over the course of 10 days: Queer Community Fair, Pride Denied Movie Screening, QTPOC Murder Mystery, Queer Magic, Profs Meet’n’Greet, Queer Zine Workshop, Safer Sex Workshop, Fierce!, Discussion on Substance Use, Queer Trivia, Queer Slow Dance, Out on the Shelf Open House, Polyamory Workshop, Kissing Games Workshop, Queer Knit & Craft, QTPOC Play with Clay, Queer Skate, Mental Health Workshop, and an Operation Soap Tribute.

In 2018, Guelph Pride celebrated the 15th Anniversary of the Festival. In light of this accomplishment, the Guelph Pride committee decided to extend the festival to span two weeks, instead of the usual one. The Guelph Civic Museum, Guelph Pride, and members of the community teamed up to create an interactive exhibit exploring both local and farther reaching histories of LGBT2Q+ communities. Additionally, the same individuals worked with the Downtown Business Association to create a series of 30 banners highlighting those histories, to be on display throughout much of the year along Carden Street.

Other highlights from 2018 was the first collaboration between Guelph Pride and Wellington Brewery. ​Members teamed up with representatives from 12 different local LGBT2Q+ organizations to develop a concept, recipe, and design for a specialty beer. Options were put out to the wider community, and we landed on the name “Sunshine” – the beer would sell out at most venues before the Festival was half over and was a raving success. The secret ingredient? Edible glitter, which made this raspberry hibiscus blonde ale shimmer like a golden ray of sunshine itself.

This year also saw a ramp up in programming at Out on the Shelf’s new library space in the 10C building. Winter Pride hosted an all-day open house with various events happening in adjacent spaces of 10C throughout the day. Another Open House was hosted as part of the regular festival’s programming in May. 

After the 2018 festivals, amidst growing tensions and evolving conversations with LGBT2QI+ communities, Guelph Pride created new policies and procedures around operations, including some restructuring of the planning committee, and new agreements and mandatory anti-oppression training for all volunteers. We’re excited to continue this incredible work and doing our due diligence to best serve our LGBT2QI+ community members and fostering spaces where we can all be who we are and love who we choose, freely and without fear. We hope you’ll join us in keeping the story going!