Club Carousel Dance Party

Posted on May 9, 2024 by | 3 comments

Calgary’s first gay bar, Club Carousel, has inspired many contemporary events. The latest will be a dance party thrown by the pop-up collective Pansy Club on May 10th.

Pansy Club Poster from Instagram

The Pansy Club, a significant addition to our community, was established in 2021 as a bi-monthly 2SLGBTQ+ music night at Kaffeeklatsch, a former Beltline cafe at 1205 1 St. SW—coincidentally beside the original Club Carousel at 1207 1 St. Spearheaded by Cal Gibbens, the name Pansy Club was inspired by one of the stories he read in Our Past Matters, a testament to our rich history. 

I’m inspired by history. The Pansy Club is a collective with the goal of creating an affirming, safe space. Our events are designed to attract and embrace people who may feel they don’t belong in other spaces, ensuring everyone feels welcome and accepted.

Cal Gibbens

In a lovely resonance, those goals are similar to those of the 1970’s Club Carousel.

Thank you, Cal, we’re looking forward to it!

✨️🎠 CLUB CAROUSEL 🎠✨️

Step back into the 70s and get your groove thang on 🪩✨️Pansy Club brings you a night of soulful disco, house & funk in a throwback to the city’s first-ever gay bar – Club Carousel!🕺

Friday May 10th
At Sunalta Community Hall
8pm – 1am
$10 or PWYC. Advance tickets: here!

Early Mixer 8 – 9pm
Drag Show 9 – 10pm
Dance Party 10pm – 1am

{KA}

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Queer History Conference

Posted on May 2, 2024 by | 1 comment

We are thrilled to be attending the first National Queer and Trans+ Community History Conference in Edmonton this weekend. The conference is set to take place at MacEwan University, where researchers from all over the country will be coming together for a unique queer history immersion experience.

The conference “is designed to bring together 2SLGBTQ+ community members, non-profit organizations, heritage professionals, academics, historians, and emerging scholars who have an interest in documenting, preserving, and celebrating diverse and intersectional queer and trans+ histories in Canada. This conference serves as a scholarly community gathering space to share best practices, foster research collaborations, mobilize knowledge, and build upon existing community and professional networks.”

Registrations are sold out, and the program of outstanding scholars, community historians and activists looks stimulating. The Calgary Gay History Project is contributing a poster about the history and significance of Club Carousel—Calgary’s first gay bar—to the conference. We are happy to represent Calgary at this national gathering and hope to glean many new ideas of how to best preserve and share queer history in our City.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Lois Szabo, and Councillor Evan Woolley (2021) at the opening of Lois Szabo Commons commemorating the founding of Club Carousel. Photo source: City of Calgary.

A special shout-out goes to Dr. Kristopher Wells and his colleagues, who have been labouring behind the scenes to manifest this remarkable gathering—thank you!

{KA}

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Canadian Independent Bookstore Day

Posted on April 25, 2024 by | 1 comment

April 27th is Canadian Independent Bookstore Day. If you buy a book at your favourite indie bookshop this Saturday, you can enter a contest to win a $1000 gift certificate.

We love these stores and thank our hometown favourites: Pages, Shelf Life, and Owl’s Nest, for selling hundreds of copies of our imprint ASPublishing’s award-winning books: Our Past Matters and What Narcissus Saw.

Browsing the bookshelves, talking to informed staff, and bumping into people you know are good reasons to shop in indie bookstores. {Plus: social snacking is good for our health}

Most indie bookstores have online shops, so there is no need to support foreign corporate tech giants and send your hard-earned dollars out of the country.

See you at the indie bookstore this Saturday!

{KA}

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