Vernon Pride Prom organizers set late-August dance date

It won’t happen in June, but plans are still in the works for a dance dedicated to LGBTQ+ youth in the Vernon area.

The second-annual Vernon Pride Prom has been postponed to the end of summer due to COVID-19.

“We’ve postponed the dance until Aug. 28 to keep everyone safe and are in the process of working out social distancing measures,” said organizer Taron Des Mazes, who originally scheduled the event for June 27 during World Pride Month.

Des Mazes, a Grade 12 student at Vernon Secondary School, organized Vernon’s first pride prom last year after noticing a lack of pride events for young people in the city.

“I definitely know there’s a large population of LGBTQ youth in Vernon, (but) we’re all in little pockets or groups and we don’t communicate with each other very much, so I kind of wanted to fix that.”

The event is for ages 13 to 18 and was originally planned as a three-hour dance, with tickets costing $5 in advance and $10 at the door.