{"id":36343,"date":"2025-05-22T14:18:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T18:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=36343"},"modified":"2025-05-22T14:18:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T18:18:22","slug":"pride-festival-begins-busy-month-of-music-heritage-and-indigenous-celebration-at-town-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/pride-festival-begins-busy-month-of-music-heritage-and-indigenous-celebration-at-town-square\/","title":{"rendered":"Pride Festival begins busy month of music, heritage and Indigenous celebration at Town Square"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aurora\u2019s inaugural Pride Festival will begin a busy month of programming at Aurora Town Square, a June that will showcase music, heritage and Indigenous celebrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aurora Pride Festival, an initiative of the Aurora Community Band in partnership with York Pride and Aurora Town Square, will end May in a celebratory note on the eve of Pride Month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The May 31 extravaganza will begin in the outdoor plaza with opening ceremonies at 6.30 p.m., before shifting to the Aurora Town Square performance hall for an evening of music by the Aurora Community Band, a Drag performance, and more than a few surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith Town Square opening freshly in September and Town Square just being a cultural hub where we want the community to come, feel inclusive, feel like they belong, and feel like this is their home to celebrate who they are, it\u2019s very exciting to be able to host this here,\u201d says Nichole Campsall, Cultural Development Coordinator for the Town of Aurora. \u201cIt\u2019s very exciting the fact that it is such a collaborative event and there\u2019s participation from so many Aurora organizations [like] York Pride. It\u2019s just such a wonderful way for us to come together and celebrate such an important part of the year. It\u2019s perfect for us to host it at Town Square and to be a part of it, so we\u2019re very excited for this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HERITAGE COLLABORATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heritage collaborations will help kick off June programs as local historian David Heard of Dave\u2019s Vinyl Party and Aurora Town Square come together to celebrate Aurora\u2019s built and musical heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 3, at 7.30 p.m., the Aurora Museum & Archives and Dave\u2019s Vinyl Party will present a screening of the documentary \u201cWho\u2019s a Good Boy?\u201d It\u2019s a documentary shot by Heard on location of Aurora\u2019s Happy Woodland Pet Cemetery, for which he\u2019s been a long-time proponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A ticketed event, admission is $8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A free event is planned for June 14 as Heard presents the Great Canadian Songbook on Vinyl from 7 \u2013 11 p.m.  in the Outdoor Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will just be a great time for everyone to come out to enjoy the Outdoor Square itself,\u201d says Campsall. \u201cDave is so passionate about music, so this is a great time to enjoy. We\u2019re finally in June with some beautiful weather and, of course, with Canada Day coming up, it\u2019s all Canadian music. It\u2019s a great, great time all around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INDIGENOUS CELEBRATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

June is Indigenous History Month and this history will be explored through music on June 5 from 6.30 \u2013 8.30 p.m. when the Sultans of String present Walking Through the Fire: A Visual Album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billed as a \u201cjourney where cultures collide, boundaries dissolve, and the universal language of music unites us all,\u201d it\u2019s the brainchild of Chris McCool who Campsall says \u201cabsolutely puts on an incredibly captivating show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe works with artists from all different backgrounds, so Walking Through the Fire is brought on by the 94 Calls to Action [coming from the National Truth & Reconciliation Commission] that called for Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to work together to show a path forward,\u201d she says. \u201cThey created Walking Through the Fire and it\u2019s a collection of collaborations between First Nations, Metis and Inuit artists from across Turtle Island. It will have songs, music, discussions, and then, after the film, there\u2019s a Q&A talkback session with the director, Chris McCool, and Indigenous artist Shannon Thunderbird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very excited to bring that to Town Square as a celebration of National Indigenous History Month.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GRUNGE FEST<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing out the month on June 28 will be the Town\u2019s first Grunge Fest, a three-concerts-in-one show that promises, \u201crelive the raw energy of 90s grunge as top tribute bands bring Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, and Nirvana to life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just thought it would be such a great time to celebrate Grunge,\u201d says Campsall. \u201cWe have had great experiences with the Pearl Jam band, Pearl Jamming, in the past and that led us to think, why not do a Grunge Fest? We have this amazing building now open, let\u2019s test it out and see. We\u2019re trying to make sure we have something for everyone, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe response has been fantastic and we\u2019re very excited. It will start off at 6.30 p.m. with Monkey Wrench, the Foo Fighters tribute band, and then we have Lounge Act Band and their tribute to Nirvana, which will be coming on at 8 p.m.; and the final band will be Pearl Jamming, a great way to kind of relive the 90s and rock it out to top grunge songs that we all remember and love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Programming the spaces of Aurora Town Square is \u201cone of the most incredible experiences of my entire career,\u201d says Campsall, noting that the community response has been fantastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the complex\u2019s opening last September, they have had a number of opportunities to see what works from a programming standpoint and are excited for all the opportunities that lie ahead \u2013 not just for the Town Square team, but for the other groups that call Town Square home and what they\u2019re able to do together: the Aurora Cultural Centre, Aurora Public Library, and the Aurora Museum and Archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTown Square was sort of an idea and a plan, but now it\u2019s real and being able to see people in there enjoying it, sitting in the caf\u00e9, out in the outdoor square, dancing to the music \u2013 it just brings on more ideas to grow and expand what we\u2019ve already done, and new things. It\u2019s been the most amazing experience and we just have the best community in Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on these and other upcoming events from the Aurora Town Square partners, including tickets, visit www.aurora.ca\/en\/town-square\/whats-on.aspx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora\u2019s inaugural Pride Festival will begin a busy month of programming at Aurora Town Square, a June that will showcase music, heritage and Indigenous celebrations. The Aurora Pride Festival, an initiative of the Aurora Community Band in partnership with York Pride and Aurora Town Square, will end May in a celebratory note on the eve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9sb","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 10:06:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36343"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36344,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36343\/revisions\/36344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}