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Proud to support Pride Winnipeg oud to support ride Winnipeg Pro Pr Happy Pride!
festival the past four years and helped in the past with Club 200’s parade float. “It also allows for people that aren’t part of the community to see what we’re all about and to open our minds a little bit to it. It’s nice to see families that are maybe hetero with their children and partaking in all the events of Pride. “Every year, it seems to get bigger and bigger as well. It’s incredible, all the support that’s around it. It’s great to get everybody united, especially those that are just coming out or just experiencing it for the first time, that they’re not alone.” During festival week, customers who come in showing their pride with anything rainbow will get 15% off their food and drinks, she adds. The Planit welcomes customers of any orientation. It promotes itself as being a safe space and has gender-neutral washrooms. “When you come in, it’s not flamboyantly open,” Meilleur says. “We have pride rainbow Absolut vodka bottles and we give away pride bracelets and lanyards and stuff like that, and our napkins are rainbow coloured, as are our straws. “But we’re inclusive to all communities … Anyone with an open mind is welcome.” Kinden also embraces the festival on a personal and business level. “I think it’s great for the community to get together and celebrate who they are and just sort of have a positive experience around that,” she says. “Sometimes it can be hard to be gay or lesbian, et cetera. So it’s just really great that we all get together and have some fun. “As a business owner, it’s nice to give back to the community, but also to be supported by the community at the same time. We’re not open Sundays, but we’ll be open that Sunday. Hopefully, it can be another nice stop for people on their way back to The Forks and be another meeting place.”
“Definitely rainbow doughnuts,” Kinden says. “We’ll introduce a special flavour for that day.” That would fit in well with her menu, which includes regular and gourmet doughnuts such as cherry amaretto with toasted almonds (vegan), rootbeer float, lemon meringue and white chocolate cardamom glaze with pistachios. Pride Winnipeg Festival’s closing-day celebrations begin near the store, with a rally at the Manitoba Legislative Building at 11 a.m., followed by a parade up Memorial Boulevard, down York Avenue to Garry Street and back along Broadway to the legislative building. The partying continues at The Forks. Kinden has volunteered in the past with a company’s parade float and has attended Pride festivals since about 2001. “It’s very encouraging that it’s grown so much and it’s also very exciting that it’s at such a prominent location such as The Forks,” says Kinden, who recently joined the Manitoba LGBT* Chamber of Commerce. Many local businesses are getting into the spirit of the festival that begins May 27. Ashley Meilleur and Sandra Soares have a slate of events lined up for The Planit Restaurant & Lounge at 285 Portage Ave., including serving up the entertainment of singer/songwriter Treasure Peterson on May 31. Their fine-dining restaurant, which won the Manitoba LGBT* New Business of the Year award in 2015, will also host a drag queen lip sync battle, a queer prom, a trivia night and a queer people of colour ladies night. Meilleur, who grew up in a small town and says she wasn’t accepted for being pansexual, views the value of the festival as “huge.” “First of all, it unites the community as one,” says Meilleur, who’s attended the
Constituency Office I 210-1100 Concordia Ave I Winnipeg, MB I R2K 4B8 204 984 2499 Daniel.Blaikie@parl.gc.ca
More than 40 years & three generations Happy Pride Winnipeg Forty three years ago Mrs. Usha Mehra brought her passion for India cuisine to Canada. She founded the first North Indian restaurant in Winnipeg, featuring all of her own original recipes. Today, Sudha Mehra and her children continue to create her dishes at The East India Company Restaurant. Classical Indian flavours are presented with a contemporary flair amidst centuries old Indian wood
carvings, paintings and intricate tapestries; The Mehras would like to invite you to experience the dynamic essence that India is known f to for.
We specialize in group lunches and dinners.
Consistently featured in Anne Hardy’s Where to Eat in Canada (2007-2016) Voted Best South Asian Restaurant by Winnipeggers for Uptown Magazine’s Best of Review
Winnipeg’s only 20 ★ Restaurant (5 stars in each of 4 categories). - Marion Warhaft, Winnipeg Free Press
www.eastindiaco.com 349 York Ave. (204) 947-3097
FREE DELIVERY TO DOWNTOWN HOTELS
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