With less than 3 months until rainbow flags and feather boas will crowd the streets of downtown, Calgary Pride is formally launching their 2017 Festival under the theme "All Together Now". With a week of events stretching August 25th to September 4th, and a bigger than ever Parade and "Pride in the Park" on September 3rd, the 27th Annual Calgary Pride Festival shouldn’t be missed.

"There’s a lot going on for the Calgary Pride Festival this year, most notably our move to 6th Ave and Prince’s Island Park, and we hope all Calgarians will join us" says Jason Kingsley, President and Executive Producer for Calgary Pride. "Our hope is that we can use Pride as an opportunity for communities to connect and gather in pursuit of collective strength, which is why we’ve chosen our theme of ‘All Together Now’".

The formal launch of the 2017 Calgary Pride Festival includes the opening of ATB’s Art Vault Gallery exhibition, which is located at the presenting sponsor’s Stephen Ave branch. The exhibit will feature art curated by ACAD that "tells the story of acceptance, belonging and community".

In addition to the launch of the 2017 theme, Calgary Pride is also proud to announce that the Grand Marshal for this year’s Parade will be Lois Szabo, a long-time advocate and voice for Calgary’s GSD (Gender & Sexuality Diverse) community. Szabo was one of the founding members of Club Carousel, Calgary’s very first gay social club, in 1968.

Applications for participation in the Parade and Marketplace will open at 9am on June 13th, as well as registration for volunteer positions at the Festival. All details can be found at calgarypride.ca.