Notes of Pride - June 25

Celebrate queer talent at our first FREE concert of the summer! This unofficial warm-up to the Pride Festival will take place in Cridge Park (Blanshard Street and Belleville Street) on Wednesday, June 25th from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.

The concert will feature live, bicycle-powered music by The Wild Drift and Élise LeBlanc, and poetry by Dex Neily (performer bios below). Invite your friends, grab a blanket or a lawn chair, and bring along a picnic!

This event will take place on the homelands of the Lekwungen People.

We are grateful to the CRD Arts & Culture Support Service for their financial assistance.

Accessibility details: The event will take place on the grass in Cridge Park. There are paved pathways that provide access to the park and there are accessible parking spots behind the Church of our Lord, which can be accessed from Humboldt just west of Blanshard. If you have questions or concerns about accessibility at the event, please contact us at engage@victoriadra.ca.

We encourage those who are able to walk, cycle or take public transit to the event. The closest bus stops are on the north side of Belleville west of Douglas and on the east side of Douglas in front of the Crystal Garden building. There is paid street parking on Humboldt between Penwell and Blanshard and paid parking in the WestPark lot at 646 Superior St.

About the performers:

A poet at heart, Canadian singer-songwriter Élise LeBlanc (she/they) is inspired by the romance of wild things. Heavily influenced by classic country, Appalachia, and western swing- her songs explore queer desire, betrayal, hope, and nature lore. Her gentle twang and rich, expressive vibratto nods to classic crooners Patsy Cline and Peggy Lee. Élise is currently based on the unceded traditional territory of the Lekwungen People, the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations.

The Wild Drift is a trio of singer-songwriters from Victoria, BC. Weaving together folky guitar riffs and vocal harmonies, they will take you on a musical journey. There’s bound to be both soulful crooning, and the occasional rap verse, as two of the members are also hip hop artists in other local bands (grapefruit is impossible, and the Miles Skye Club). Also, they’ve got sing along songs and love to encourage audience participation, so buckle up!

Your local queer disabled superhero, Dex Neily (they/them) is a poet and performer from Lekwungen territories. They have represented Victoria nationally and internationally at seven spoken word festivals, and was a finalist at both the 2021 and 2022 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam. Their current work centres around their experiences of pain and pleasure as a millennial with chronic illness in their thirties who is making it up as they go along.