Creston Valley Pride Society

09/04/2026

With cooler days and clearer skies we have decided to get together for a hike this Sunday! We would love to have you join us, enjoy the nature of our beautiful valley & hike in the safety of a group with good company.
Start time will be 9:30am, with the spot to be determined soon.
If you are interested in joining please send us a message or email:
[email protected]

07/23/2026

🌈 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲! 🌈

We are excited to share that Creston Valley Pride Society is looking for new board and committee members to help our incredible team!

Our community has so much potential, and we have big dreams for the future.
Whether you’re part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community or a proud ally, we would love to hear from you. Things you could help us with include:

-Helping manage and grow our social media presence;
-Supporting and spearheading community events;

Interested in joining us? Have questions?
Send us a message here on Facebook or email us at: [email protected]

07/21/2026

🩷💗🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️💗🩷

07/12/2026

07/06/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1MKQfwjQjG/

Before Europeans arrived in North America, hundreds of Indigenous nations had already figured out something that Western culture would take centuries to begin accepting. Gender is not a binary. And people who lived outside of it were not outcasts. They were often the most respected members of their communities.

Many Indigenous cultures recognized and honored what we now call Two-Spirit people. The term itself is modern, coined in 1990 by Indigenous activists who needed a pan-tribal word in English to replace the slur that European anthropologists had been using for decades. But the people the term describes are ancient. Across more than 150 distinct tribes, gender-diverse individuals held recognized roles long before any European set foot on this continent.

Those roles were not marginal. Two-Spirit people were frequently healers, medicine people, spiritual leaders, and cultural keepers. They were seen as gifted, carrying both masculine and feminine spirits and therefore able to move between worlds that others could not access. That kind of vision was not a curiosity. It was a resource. Communities relied on it.

We'wha of the Zuni people is one of the most documented examples. Born in 1849, We'wha was what the Zuni called Lhamana, a traditional gender role that wove together the work and spiritual responsibilities of both men and women. We'wha was a master weaver and potter, a spiritual leader, and a cultural ambassador who traveled to Washington in 1886 and met President Grover Cleveland.

Anthropologist Matilda Stevenson, who knew We'wha well, described them as the most intelligent person in the Zuni tribe. The Washington elite received We'wha warmly, largely unaware they were meeting someone their own society would have condemned.

European colonizers brought a rigid gender binary with them and treated any deviation from it as sin, disease, or crime. The Spanish missions in California punished gender-diverse Native people physically. Boarding schools forced Indigenous children into strict male and female roles and stripped them of the languages and traditions that had carried Two-Spirit identity for generations. What colonizers could not understand, they destroyed.

The damage was profound and deliberate. Two-Spirit traditions went underground for more than a century. Knowledge was kept private, passed quietly between elders and trusted community members, away from the missionaries and government agents who would have punished it.

What's remarkable is how much survived. Two-Spirit people and their communities have spent decades reclaiming what colonization tried to erase. Intertribal gatherings, cultural revitalization efforts, and the simple act of saying the words out loud have brought these traditions back into visibility.

The next time someone tells you that acceptance of gender diversity is a recent invention or a Western idea imported from liberal cities, remember We'wha meeting the President in 1886 and that more than 150 tribes had names for gender-diverse people before English was spoken on this continent.

The idea that there are only two genders and that anyone outside them deserves punishment is not a tradition. It is a colonial import. And Indigenous Two-Spirit people paid a brutal price for it.

07/04/2026

💙💜♥️🩷💚

07/04/2026

Can you choose just one? 🍨🍦🍧

07/02/2026

&...A huge thank you to everyone who helped make our Pride in the Valley After Party such a memorable evening!

We are incredibly grateful to the talented performers who travelled from far to bring their energy, creativity, and passion to our community. Thank you for sharing your gifts with us and helping create a night filled with joy, laughter, and celebration.

A special thank you to DJ Lori J Ward, the Hi-Fi Princess, for curating the perfect soundtrack and keeping the dance floor moving.

We'd also like to extend our appreciation to our friends from Spokane Pride for joining us and helping make this event such a wonderful celebration of community and connection.

Thank you to every performer who helped create a welcoming space where people could come together, celebrate, and be themselves.

Small towns can do amazing things, and this night was proof of that!

Feel free to share your photos from the evening and tag us, we'd love to see your favourite memories!

LBee TheDrag Jack Siren Recluse Spokane Pride The Kootenay Cryptid

07/01/2026

Photo collection by Photography By L Cannon

07/01/2026

WHAT A DAY! THANK YOU, CRESTON! 🌈

Our hearts are so full after Pride in the Valley 2026.

Months of planning came together as a beautiful day of community, connection, celebration, and belonging. Despite a little rain, the weather mostly held out, and we were thrilled to welcome more than 150 people throughout the day. Folks joined us from across the Kootenays, the US, and beyond reminding us just how important it is to create spaces where everyone feels welcome and celebrated.

It was especially meaningful to welcome friends from Spokane Pride, Bonners Ferry Pride, and Sandpoint Pride. Thank you for making the journey to celebrate with us and for helping strengthen the connections between our communities.

The Pride Parade was full of colour, laughter, music, and joy. Throughout the day, the festival grounds were buzzing with conversation, new friendships, reunited friends, dancing, creativity, and community spirit. Thank you to our incredible vendors, community organizations, and information booths that helped make the day engaging, welcoming, and vibrant for everyone who attended.

A special thank you to our performers and musicians who shared their talents and helped create such a joyful atmosphere. Your performances brought people together, lifted spirits, and kept the celebration alive throughout the day.

As we look through the photographs, you can see the Joy! Joy in being together. Joy in being seen. Joy in being accepted. The smiles, hugs, conversations, and moments of connection captured throughout the day remind us why Pride matters.

In a small community, Pride is about so much more than a festival. It's about creating spaces where people know they belong. It's about visibility, acceptance, friendship, and community. It's about celebrating who we are while building a future where everyone can feel safe, valued, and at home.

For some people, events like this are a chance to reconnect with community. For others, it may be the first time they've seen themselves reflected and celebrated in a public space. Those moments matter, and they are only possible because people come together to create them.

Thank you to everyone who attended, participated, volunteered, performed, sponsored, donated, shared our posts, brought a friend, or simply showed up. Every one of you helped create the magic!

💜 Looking ahead, we're always looking for people who want to help shape the future of Pride in the Valley. We are a small but passionate volunteer-run society, and we'd love to welcome new board members and committee volunteers to help plan future events and strengthen 2SLGBTQIA+ community connections throughout the year. If this is something that resonates with you, please reach out!

A special thank you to Photography by L Cannon for capturing the smiles, connections, and moments that made this year's Pride in the Valley so meaningful. We hope you enjoy looking through these snapshots of a truly special day.

Did you take photos at Pride? We'd love to see the event through your eyes, too.! Tag us in your posts or send us your favourite photos so we can continue sharing the joy and celebrating our community together.
Until next year, thank you for celebrating with us, standing with us, and helping build a community where everyone belongs.

Happy Pride, Creston. 🌈