The Davie Street Party won’t be happening this year.
Due to budget constraints, Vancouver Pride has announced it’s had to cancel the beloved party for this year’s Pride festival.
“It was a really hard announcement to make,” says Andrea Arnot, executive director of the Vancouver Pride Society. “We’re disappointed and we know that people who normally attend will be disappointed, but we’re hoping that people will come out and support all the other events that we’re doing.”
In 2017, Vancouver Pride ended its financial year with a deficit of almost a quarter-million dollars after receiving higher than expected bills from the City of Vancouver for services.
That’s meant it’s had to examine what it can afford for this year’s festival. And the Davie Street Party is its most expensive event.
“We had to take a really hard look at our budgets and what we have the capacity to do for 2018,” Arnot says. “And unfortunately that was on the chopping block.”
Though Vancouver Pride had been in negotiations with the city, bars on Davie Street and the West End BIA to see if they could reduce costs, they ran out of time to make it work for this year.
Arnot says that Vancouver Pride is still talking to the city and is hopeful that the Davie Street Party could return for 2019.
For people who want to do some outdoor dancing, the Pride Premiere event will still take place on Robson Street on July 27.
“We hope that provides an opportunity for people who love that piece of Pride,” Arnot says.
And Arnot says that she hopes that Vancouverites can make it to some of the other events that are taking place, like Pride Sports Day at Second Beach on July 22.
“There’s really something for everyone,” she says.
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