New West Pride fills Metro Vancouver's Royal City with LGBT rainbow celebrations

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      Pride is continuing on strong in Metro Vancouver, and it's Pride time in New Westminster, as New West Pride Week 2018 has been lighting up the city with rainbows since August 11.

      After all, the Lower Mainland city is poised to succeed Vancouver's West End as the most gay-friendly place in British Columbia. (And, hey, it's nicknamed the Royal City so it's an obvious place to drag a few queens and kings out to.)

      If you want to take a bite out of Pride, there's the New West Farmers Market annual pie contest, Pie for Pride, from 3 to 7 p.m. at Tipperary Park today (August 16). It'll be followed by the annual Rainbow Karaoke from 7 to 11:30 p.m. at the Paddlewheeler Pub (126–810 Quayside Drive) for anyone who wants to sing their queer hearts out.

      Tomorrow (August 17), there's a special Pride edition of Fridays on Front, a weekly outdoor event at the 600 block of Front Street featuring food vendors, music, entertainment, and more. And the Pride celebration continue on into the wee hours at the Terminal Pub (115 12th Street) from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

      New West Pride

      To cap it all off, the New West Pride Street Festival will be held from 3 to 8 p.m. on Saturday (August 18) on Columbia Street, with easy access from the New Westminster and Columbia SkyTrain stations.

      Three stages will feature a wide range of performers.

      Entertainers will include funksters Queer as Funk, rock/ska/reggae band Los Furios, singer-songwriter Mathew V, Eastside Choir, choral ensemble VanDeca, Dancepl3y, Disco Funeral, punk rockers Blackwood Renegades, a cappella group Quayside Voices, singer-songwriter Skye, soul-rock duo Old Soul Rebel, DJ Travis Ketler, and DJ O Show.

      There'll also be a spoken-word and slam poetry competition and drag performances in the mix, too.

      For full details or more information, visit the New West Pride website.

      New West Pride
      You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at @cinecraig or on Facebook. You can also follow the Straight's LGBT coverage on Twitter at @StraightLGBT or on Facebook.

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