A celebration of Pride and allyship will take to the ski hill in the heart of Edmonton on Saturday as the Edmonton Ski Club celebrates its second annual Winter Pride Party.
The event will offer discounted lift tickets from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., tubing and luge activities, and an evening celebration from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. with local performers, including a live DJ and drag artists. The festivities will be topped off with a Rail Jam featuring local snowboarders and skiers.
The Jan. 20 event is all about unity, inclusion and diversity in the winter sports community, said Zoe Sloan, general manager of the Edmonton Ski Club.
“After seeing the response from last year’s event, we knew it was something we wanted to continue doing,” she said. “This event means a lot to our sporting community, and we’re proud to host it for a second year in a row to continue demonstrating our commitment to celebrating Pride and promoting inclusion in sports.”
The weather forecast appears to be trending in their favour, Sloan continued, with the deep freeze breaking just in time, offering a -12 C day on Saturday.
“Winter can be long. We have eight months of it. That halfway point to the June Pride seemed important to celebrate.”
Sloan also said there seems to be more divisiveness and hatred out there.
“Creating spaces like this from a position of allyship is more important than ever,” she said. “We’re not a political organization but we think it’s important to promote unity… There needs to be spotlight on unity year round.”
For more information on Edmonton Ski Club’s Winter Pride Party and to buy tickets, click here.