JASPER – A small mountain town is honouring Pride Month, which takes place every June, with three crosswalks that were painted in mid-May.
Around a dozen volunteers helped paint the Pride, Progressive and Transgender crosswalks, which are located at the intersection of Patricia Street and Pyramid Lake Road this year.
“Everybody loves them, from what I hear,” said Mollie Lalonde Lynch, who co-chairs the Jasper Pride Festival Society along with Wendy Hall. “It’s only been positive, and people love coming into town and seeing that visibility.”
In previous years, these crosswalks had been located closer to the downtown core, adjacent to the former location of TD Bank, which is one of Jasper Pride’s biggest sponsors. TD has since moved down the street after losing its location in the Jasper wildfire.
“We decided that we asked them if they would like us to move it down there, and everybody was really happy to have it down there,” Lalonde Lynch said.
OUT Jasper was the organization that first began the tradition and has historically helped paint the crosswalks, but due to a lack of members in town, Jasper Pride took on the project itself this year.
The crosswalks were also painted in mid-May, as opposed to late May or early June as they had previously been.
“We’ve been wanting to do it before Pride Month began for a long time, and so we worked hard at that to try to make that happen this year,” Lalonde Lynch said.
She noted they were still looking for a paint that would last longer, but this has been difficult since they were in a national park and needed to use paints that were environmentally friendly.
This annual painting comes after the Jasper Pride and Ski Festival is held in April, something organizers worried wasn’t possible post-wildfire.
“We’re really super proud of the work that we’ve done this year coming out of last year,” Lalonde Lynch said. “Honestly, we didn’t think we’d be able to hold the 10-day festival, so it was really, truly special, and hopefully we just keep building on it, making it better.”
She added how the Municipality of Jasper had recently been accredited as shortly after the crosswalks were painted.
“That was a really cool thing, I think a lot in part to do with things that Pride is involved with, but also the municipality directly,” she said. “It kind of coincided really well together and then coming into Pride Month as well.”
Those interested in volunteering for Jasper Pride or social media. Their annual general meeting takes place in the fall.
