Peak Pride returns to Okanagan ski hills starting Friday

After a nearly two-year-long hiatus, Peak Pride is set to bring the party back to Okanagan’s ski resorts.

The Big White weekend events kick off this Friday afternoon at Snowshoe Sam’s with Apres. Following later that evening will be QUSIC, an event at the Globe that will showcase live music from Vancouver-based artists Matthew Presidente and Toddy.

Presidente is a rock/pop pianist/singer/songwriter who has been a part of the music scene in Vancouver for nearly 20 years and Toddy is a high-energy drag performer, standup comedian and singer-songwriter.

Saturday will be the main day of events, beginning with a mid-afternoon Pride Parade.

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Organizers said participants will need a lift ticket to join at the top of the mountains or can join for free once the parade descends near the firehall. The day finishes with a drag show and party, wipeOUT again featuring a performance from Toddy, in addition to Ella Lamoureux, and Sparkle.

“Like everyone in the event industry, we are ecstatic to finally host full-scale events again,” said Dustyn Baulkham, executive producer of Peak Pride and CEO of Rebellious Unicorns in a press release.

“We have very successfully hosted two Peak Prides this month at Mt Washington (Comox) and RED Mountain (Rossland) with multiple sold out events at each mountain and are excited to bring some colour to our home valley.”

Peak Pride is for all people, Baulkham said. While some events are 19-plus, allies of the 2SLGBTQ+ community are warmly welcomed to attend any and all of the events.

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The following weekend at Silver Star will also be full of events, including drag bingo, drag brunch, pride parade, wipeOUT, and QUSIC. It’s all coupled with SilverStar’s closing weekend events.

Peak Pride has grown to include five ski resorts in the Southern Interior: Big White, Sun Peaks (returning 2023), Silver Star, RED Mountain, and new this year, Mt. Washington.

More details and tickets to both events can be purchased on the peakpride.lgbt website. Venue capacity is limited.