Pride Winnipeg has reversed a controversial decision to alter the dates of its 2018 festival.
After hearing community feedback, organizers say the festival will now run May 25 to June 3 instead of July 20-29 as originally announced in October.
“The decision to move to the dates was to help the festival keep growing and serving the community,” said Jonathan Niemczak, president of Pride Winnipeg’s board of directors.
“We now recognize that the date change was going to have a much greater impact than we realized on some members of our community.”
The change in dates was intended to reduce congestion at The Forks and avoid competing with another summer festival on the site. Instead, many people expressed frustrated that Pride Week was at the same time as the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival (July 18-29).
Organizers say they remain committed to providing more space for programming and accommodating higher demand. The board will revisit the festival’s dates for 2019 and seek community feedback before making a decision.
Pride Winnipeg is one of the largest annual celebrations of LGBTTQ culture in Canada.
