Juggling public expectations and COVID regulations isn't easy, nor is navigating the financial realities of a pandemic. But even with the deck stacked against it, Halifax Pride knows how badly we need its annual dose of joy and community. Here, in the run-up to Pride's 2021 event this August, its organizers are giving a glimpse behind the curtain of how the summer staple is overcoming everything to bring Halifax the rainbow with this, a diary series. Below is the second entry—and you can catch up on the last one here.
July 16, 2021
Fiona Kerr, Operations & Communications Manager
Last week I exclusively wore the operations manager hat, and this week it seems like I was exclusively wearing the communications manager hat. This week was full of prepping for our schedule to finally go live. Writing event descriptions for over 30 events can be daunting, but luckily we have more contract staff than ever, so we powered through them.
Also, a huge project that has been on my plate for about five months finally came full circle yesterday: We were finally able to pick up this year’s Pride Guides! Adam (Pride's executive director) and myself spent the better part of the last few months working with our contracted graphic designer to somehow fit the 30-plus Halifax Pride Events and community planned events into one pamphlet. Thankfully, it worked. This was the first year we moved away from our usual booklet and downsized, so to say it was stressful to fit almost 30 pages of information into a four-by-two pamphlet is an understatement.
The only downside? I now have 10,000 guides in my car and you could probably choke on the smell of ink.
The next few weeks are going to be crucial (not that they all aren’t). We’re filming our noon-hour panel series in advance of the festival for the first time ever (in a real studio), working with the province to get all of our safety measures in place, getting all of our volunteers trained, and trying to get the word out that there’s an in-person festival for everyone to attend.
