November marks our 13th Anniversary of the magazine. It doesn’t feel like much since we did pass a major mile stone in June, 2016, with our 150th edition. There is another major milestone approaching the company in January, so I won’t get too carried away now on celebrations. The milestone will be revealed in our February 2017 edition, so stay tuned. The publisher’s column this month will be short; outside of Banff Pride and the changes to Backwards (again), there is not much else to bring up.

I was looking forward to being in Banff for Pride. Every year we have been out there to cover the event I have been able to check out the town. This trip was a little different. The organizers of Banff Pride were unable to book a room for us for the night due to the high cost. After checking with Greyhound, I found out that you could get a round trip ticket for about $45. I arranged it that I could arrive at 2pm and leave at 4am. This way I did not have to worry about getting a ride out and, since Rob was out of town and Justin couldn’t make it, I would be out there by myself.

Everything went as planned that I hung out in Banff and checked out shops and things that you usually don’t notice on the main strip. It was an enjoyable day and I lost track of time. I wanted to try the local bus service between Canmore and Banff so I could check out Canmore too, but realized I spent too much time checking out stores in Banff. I decided to hang out and have dinner in the Cascade Mall, then head out to Wild Bill’s Saloon an hour or so before the show started. I let them know that I was there to cover Banff Pride. As I was sitting at a table, I noticed that I was starting to get chills and feeling a little off. Since I did not have a place to stay at in Banff, I asked the on-shift manager if I could have a spot away from the customers because I was starting to feel tired and ill. They let me stay upstairs, which is usually used as over flow and coat check. I am very grateful to the staff and management of Wild Bill’s Saloon since the next part was bad.

Within a couple minutes of sitting down, the chills really hit. I started shivering to the point I was stuttering. I tried to text Rob and Justin to let them know what was going on. I realized how bad it was when as I was texting; my hand was shaking so bad that even auto correct could not figure out what I was saying. Rob and Justin knew something was up but it was not easy to give proper responses. They received a lot of messages with words with the same character repeated. I had some Ibuprofen with me, just in case, so I popped some of those.

The shivering lasted for over an hour and the drag show was going to start soon. I started to calm so I decided to get my place by the stage for photos. I let all the drag queens know that I was sick; no hugs and kisses. While taking photos, I started to sweat, which meant I had a fever. As I was taking photos, I was wiping my forehead and I was just dripping. The drag show would be over by 1am; I told myself that I can do my job, get photos and then rest at the Greyhound station before the bus comes.

The show was stellar – as it always is. I think I got some great shots even though I was sick. Banff Pride had the place sold out again, which was great to hear. Check out http://www.gaycalgary.com/a1262  for the coverage.

After the show, seeing that I had a couple hours to kill, I decided to grab some food and hot chocolate to help replenish fluids after sweating so much. I walk over to the Greyhound Station to find it closed and that it would not be open until the morning. It would have been nice if the Greyhound website or the ticket informed you in advance of the hours of operation of the station. It was chilly but not freezing so I waited by the station. With how much I had sweated, I started to get cold so I looked for a place that was open 24 hours.

The Shell Gas Station was open and they recommended to hang out at the McDonalds since that was pretty much the only place with seating still open. I stayed there for about an hour and then headed back to the Greyhound station. Once I got home, the fever and shivers kicked back in, but at least I was in my own bed. I was sick until the next day.

This was the first time I had gotten so sick while covering an event. Seeing that no one else was with me, who I could hand off the duties to, did not help either. I know that I had been over-working myself on magazine stuff prior to Banff Pride happening and not getting enough sleep. It is not easy to run the magazine mostly by myself and, at the same time, not to over-work myself either. With another milestone about to happen, it just puts things into perspective. I should take a day off every now and then for some me time.

After a difficult time getting open, and then working out the bugs of operating the bar, Backwards closed at the end of October to rebrand as 628 Stage and Lounge. It took a couple of weeks to repaint, adjust the sound system, create a VIP area, adjust the menu, and more. Instead of being classed as a ‘gay bar’, they are now a bar for everyone.

This change made sense for them. Being located on 8th Ave – where you have lots of people around for lunch – it is a little hard to get customers to come in if they think it’s a gay-only establishment. The new format also uses the stage and lounge feature more and, once they complete the downstairs, the night club part will be open.

In this economy, you need to be for everyone. Look at how many events are happening at ‘straight’ bars for the gay community. Those bars are pretty much no different than what 628 will be doing: gay events will happen along side other events. If you look at some of the reviews of the gay night clubs on Yelp or Facebook, you will see that several are coming from straight people spending money and hanging out in gay bars. 628 still has people from the gay community working there, doing events, fundraisers and more. GayCalgary will cover them alongside of Cowboys Nightclub, Flames Central, Night Owl, Broken City, National and others bars that support and provide space for the LGBTQ community. As gay rights and acceptance continues, that black and white of what is a ‘straight’ or ‘gay’ bar becomes more gray –  or maybe even a little pink.

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Contributor Steve Polyak |

Locale Banff | Calgary |

Topic 628 Stage and Lounge | Backwards | Banff Pride | Publisher's Column | Travel |