Oxford County Pride launches Pride Guide for 10th anniversary

Emily Stewart, Echo Correspondent

The Pride Guide for Oxford County Pride is now available and filled with a variety of events to celebrate a decade of the organization.

Oxford County Pride released a list of its 2025 events, beginning with the Pride Flag raising on May 30 at the Oxford County municipal building on 21 Reeve St. at 11:30 a.m. The group will not be travelling to the seven other municipalities for the flag raisings, but all Oxford County municipalities are expected to raise the Pride flag by noon.

“Now that it's kind of an organic thing, we’ve got the approval, we no longer have to fight for it. It should just naturally happen,” Murray said.

There will be a variety of events to follow, including church services in Ingersoll’s Trinity United Church and Norwich United Church on June 1.

Do Good Oxford County will run a variety of creative classes, including wreath making, t-shirt decorating, and watercolour painting from May 31 to June 27. The creative centre will donate 10 per cent of class fees for the month of June to local programs supporting Oxford County’s 2SLGBTQIA+ youth. There will also be a Pride Rainbow Storytime event with Miss Rubyyy at Early Bird Coffee on June 7.

Other Pride events include a cheese tasting with Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese on June 12, a Ponies and Pottery event run in partnership with the Kiln Room Ceramic and Art Studio at Transitions Encompassing Wellness on June 7, High Tea at the Crafty Corner Tea Room on June 15, and Queer Conversations at the Woodstock and Oxford County Libraries.

The organization’s beloved Family Fun Day will return to Museum Square on June 14 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The day will begin with Indigenous programming and will also feature performances from a variety of musicians, including Spice Girls tribute act the Spice Queens, Bigg Zee featuring Ethan Mac, Rob Cromwell, Patrick Murphy, Deshkan Ziibi, The Band You Had Me, and Kate Channer. About 50 vendors will be in attendance.

The Mardi Gras Masquerade ball will be the following Friday, June 20, at Unifor Hall with Sloppy Jo and DJ Diamond. Oxford County Pride celebrations will conclude with a Pride Trivia Night hosted by Chastity Cage and Sloppy Jo on June 25.

"Hopefully, there will be a few more pop-up activities going on because a lot of businesses this year, which is really cool, are doing their own thing which we really absolutely love and we encourage,” Murray said.

Oxford County Pride is celebrating its 10-year anniversary, and Murray is thankful for the growing support and progression over the years.

"When I look back to when we started this with a picnic of 49 people, to the hundreds of people and hundreds of sponsors and business partners, I have to just thank this community of Oxford County and the politicians and the progression of those politicians to make these types of opportunities happen,” she added.

More information can be found by visiting https://oxfordpride.ca.