It's Pride Week in the Foothills, and the Pride Foothills Wide Annual Street Festival will return to Okotoks tomorrow.

"We have put together Pride Foothills Wide Annual Street Festival," explains the Founder and Executive Director for True Colors Rainbow Foundation, April Bouchard. "We've had events going on all week and the Street Festival will take place Saturday."

It's an all-ages event that will have circus activities, food trucks, vendors, balloon animals, community groups, activities, a 360-degree photo booth, face painting, a bubble station, and entertainment on the two stages on the festival grounds from 12-6 p.m.

"There will be pizza, there will be mini doughnuts, there will be cotton candy, churros, we have Mad Bagel coming out. Miss Poutine. All kinds of interesting circus-themed food, and we actually were careful in who we chose for the food so that we could drive people into the local businesses as well. So we chose specific food trucks that were not available on that street," Bouchard says.

The festival begins with some speeches on the main stage and will end back at the main stage with a drag show from 6-8 p.m.

The main stage will be in front of the Okotoks Elks Club building and the other is at the Old Towne Plaza. 

Elizabeth Street in Okotoks will be the home to the festival grounds this year, and there'll be a temporary parking ban in place from Elk's Hall and all the way down to the clock tower in Old Towne Plaza.

Bouchard says Pride Week has come a long way in the last few years.

"We actually made the proclamation for Pride Week and the flag raising. Okotoks Pride started it and it was very small. It got pretty big in 2022, and then they decided they weren't going to do anything in 2023, so we stepped in and we made it bigger. And we went for the whole Pride week. We've had events going on every day this week," Bouchard says.

While there hasn't been a parade as part of Pride Week in the past, Bouchard says they are checking into the possibility of having one in the future.

This is a free, family-friendly event, but Bouchard says there are generally between 3000-4000 people who attend the event each year, which could lead to some lineups happening at the face painters and food trucks. 

There will also be a banner for everyone to sign and a guided Zumba class.

"We're looking forward to seeing everybody and having everybody enjoy the festivities."

To learn more about Pride Week in Okotoks, click here.

To learn more about the True Colors Rainbow Foundation, click here.

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