Driving down Moose Jaw’s Main Street may seem a little more colourful than usual.
Gearing up for the 25th anniversary of Pride week, members of Moose Jaw Pride invited the community on Friday to help paint the bench outside of Rainbow Retro Thrift Shop with Pride colours.
“We were inspired by some of the rainbow crosswalks we’ve seen around the province and we wanted to do something a little bit different. So, since moving into this new space we said we would try painting a bench,” said Joe Wickenhauser, Executive Director of Moose Jaw Pride and Saskatchewan Pride Network.
“We see it every day and it needed a little bit of tender, love and care.”
It was brought to city council for an approval.
“They really liked the idea and had been looking for some ways to improve the downtown. So, it’s going to be a permanent installation, a permanent fixture on Main Street,” said Wickenhauser.
“We’ll do some touchups throughout the year and keep it looking nice.”
Although Pride festivities don’t begin until Sunday, which includes a smudging ceremony and a flag raising, Wickenhauser said it’s a great way to bring awareness to Pride week.
“It’s a little bit of a teaser and an opportunity to take some photos and get some rainbows out there and get people talking about diversity right here in Moose Jaw,” said Wickenhauser.
If the support shown Friday morning for the bench painting is any indication on how Pride week will go, Wickenhauser said he will be happy.
“Throughout the day, as we started painting more and more people popped by and were really interested. We heard a lot of people saying ‘it’s so beautiful, we love that, that’s awesome’ there was just so much encouragement,” said Wickenhauser.
Celebrations will run throughout next week, wrapping up on Saturday.