First queer prom in Thunder Bay, Ont., aims to make Pride Month celebrations barrier-free

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 27, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Not everyone has fond memories of their precocious schoolhouse prom. That's why Kris Tonkens wanted to bring an inclusive solemnisation to Thunder Bay, Ont., for Pride Month. 

The city's archetypal queer prom is being held Friday nighttime astatine Goods and Co. Market. The event, which is being organized by the queer feminist bookstore Loud Women Collective, is unfastened to anyone ages 17 and older.

"Obviously determination are loads of astonishing [Pride] events and everyone is doing their portion and doing their champion to accommodate. But there's things that radical inactive want, right? Like events with little to nary terms tags astatine accessible spaces and things not being held successful a bar," said Tonkens, proprietor and relation of Loud Women Collective.

The queer prom is escaped to attend, which was a cardinal precedence for Tonkens erstwhile she archetypal came up with the thought past year.

"I deliberation that it's not hard to marque events inclusive. It's conscionable a substance of reasoning astir it, right?" she said. "All things should beryllium accessible for people, particularly Pride events."

Nearly 200 radical person picked up tickets truthful far, she said, which volition besides beryllium disposable astatine the door. The lawsuit runs from 7:30 p.m. ET until midnight.

Free outfits, hairsbreadth and constitution services

Those without immoderate prom attire astatine location tin prime retired an outfit leftover from a free clothing swap held astatine Goods and Co. a mates weeks ago. Evoke Salon and Spa has besides volunteered to acceptable up a "glam booth" connected tract to supply tinsel hairsbreadth extensions and graphic eyeliner looks.

"For anybody who ever felt similar they couldn't spell to their ain prom, possibly they couldn't beryllium themselves astatine their prom oregon they didn't person the opportunity, present it's conscionable a truly beauteous happening to person the assemblage travel together, observe everybody and conscionable consciousness truthful free," said Evoke Salon and Spa's manager, Sarah Zaffino.

"We're truly looking guardant to helping everybody consciousness their champion self, and correspond adjacent our abstraction arsenic being a abstraction that is for everybody."

The prom is being held successful the main hallway astatine Goods and Co. While nary intoxicant volition beryllium served successful the cardinal venue, radical are capable to acquisition alcoholic drinks from the Woodside Bar.

There volition besides beryllium an country wherever radical tin play committee games, and a abstracted abstraction down the hallway wherever the speakers volition beryllium off, to springiness radical country to decompress and person a interruption from the noise, Tonkens explained.

After the prom, Tonkens said the program is to stitchery feedback astir however to marque the lawsuit bigger and amended adjacent year, and hopefully person enactment from immoderate sponsors. 

"There's a immense queer assemblage successful the city, right? There is simply a request and a tendency for much things and much events," she said. "The much radical that measurement up and propulsion antithetic events, the amended for the full community."