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.”
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!
Last week, on the City of Calgary’s social media, their Throwback Thursday post was about Club Carousel and its inclusion on its official heritage site list. We couldn’t be more thrilled! The Calgary Gay History Project has written extensively about the Club and founder Lois Szabo, who had a City Park named after her.
The inventory of heritage sites is curated and maintained by Heritage Calgary. Their CEO, Josh Traptow, told us:
“Heritage Calgary is always looking for stories that tell the history of our city. Sites of historic significance aren’t always architectural masterpieces or iconic landmarks; we’re also looking for the untold stories. Club Carousel has a history of major importance to Calgary’s 2SLGBTQ+ community, which is why we recently researched and added Club Carousel to the Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources. Club Carousel is also symbolic of the historic streetscapes established along Calgary’s downtown Beltline streetcar system in the pre-World War One era.”
Here is what the City of Calgary shared:
“{On Throwback Thursday}, we’re looking at a building that is symbolic for commercial development and activity along 1 Street SW as well as being significant to Calgary’s folk music scene and then to the 2SLGBTQ+ community – The Club Carousel building.
Built in 1905, The Club Carousel building was one of the earliest buildings constructed on the 1200 block and established 1 ST SW as a commercial main street south of the downtown commercial core.
The Depression Coffee House was founded by John Uren from Toronto in 1963 in the basement of the Club Carousel building. At that time, Calgary had a reputation of lacking culture, which inspired Uren’s vision to establish the Depression Coffee House for chess, poetry, folk music, and other performances by local musicians. The coffee house was the first one in Calgary and established the city’s folk music scene, launching Joni Mitchell’s music career in 1963. Joni Mitchell (Joni Anderson at that time), a young Calgary art student, was the club’s opening night act and, John Uren became known as the grandfather of folk music in Calgary through the coffee house’s success.
The Depression Coffee House era
In October 1969, the building supported the city’s first chartered private gay members club which represents an important milestone in Calgary’s 2SLGBTQ+ community history. After opening, challenges getting a business licence and the club’s original owner allowing non-members to attend resulted in members boycotting the basement club. An executive committee was formed, and donations were solicited to establish a non-profit charitable society, the Scarth Street Society (the historic name of 1 St SW), to mitigate police pressure and license challenges. The Society took over the lease of the basement space and in March 1970, the club’s executive committee, with a Theatre Calgary set designer, prepared the space to reopen as Club Carousel.
Roger Perkins performing at New Year’s Eve at the Club
The Club Carousel community donated surplus proceeds to charities and supported social activities outside the club. As an established non-profit club, the basement became too small and Club Carousel moved to the Sidorsky’s Furniture Store at 16 Avenue and Centre Street N in 1972. Due to declining membership and competition, the club closed its doors in March 1978.”
Many ask why Calgary’s Pride Festival is on the Labour Day weekend when internationally Pride Month is in June. In fact, Calgary Pride used to be a June festival but moved to September in 2009 to take advantage of drier weather and the potential for long-weekend tourism.
June is the month of Pride because it honours the Stonewall Riots in New York City, which began on June 28, 1969—a galvanizing event in the modern gay liberation movement.
Back in 1987, delegates from many of Calgary’s gay and lesbian organizations came together to form an umbrella organization called Project Pride Calgary. Inspired by the Stonewall Riots, they produced a Pride festival locally to celebrate community. Their first festival in June 1988 included a concert, workshops, a dance, and a family picnic – but no public rally or protest.
In June 1990, that changed. The Calgary Lesbian and Gay Political Action Guild (CLAGPAG), one of the Project Pride partners, organized the first political rally, which they internally described as a media stunt. One hundred and forty people mustered at the Old Y to pick up lone ranger masks and then gather at the Boer War Statue in Central Memorial Park.
And then, in June 1991, CLAGPAG more ambitiously, held its first Pride Parade. Four hundred people at City Hall cheered gay Member of Parliament Svend Robinson, who gave an inspiring speech despite gloomy weather and even gloomier protesters, three of whom were arrested.
Over the next 18 years, Pride Calgary remained a June event. It was entirely volunteer-run, and the parade and festival waxed and waned based on the enthusiasm of that year’s steering committee.
In 2008, the organization was in debt and nearly collapsed, with most of the committee abandoning ship. Sam Casselman stepped up at that autumn’s AGM as President but was shocked to learn that Pride Calgary was not an incorporated society—just a group of volunteers with a bank account. By March 2009, the new board was actively fundraising to retire its debt and incorporated a non-profit society.
They also decided to move the festival to September. The 2009 theme was “Your Rights, Our Rights, Human Rights.” There was pushback from the community, who said they were not adequately consulted about the date change, and a handful of gay businesses refused to participate. However, on Sunday, September 6, 2009, Pride had its best attendance ever.
Photos: Robin Kuniski, Xtra.caPride Power TowerIs that Lois Szabo in the background?
I wrote: “The day began at noon with the Pride Parade travelling east on Calgary’s historic Stephen Ave Mall. The event was 25 percent larger than in 2008, with 40 parade entrants and 400 people participating, but there were some noticeable changes in the lineup: mainstays such as Priape Calgary and Twisted Element were absent. However, there was more participation from the Calgary community at large, including a local financial institution, a local daily newspaper and a handful of politicians.
By 1 pm the parade spilled into Olympic Plaza as people took in the Pride street gala, which included a dance stage, beer garden, food, vendors and kids zone. Speeches were kept to a minimum by organizers and community leaders, while people checked out the vendor booths where they could enter contests, buy rainbow and cowboy swag, or learn about local queer community groups. The beer garden lineup was long, there were dogs and kids everywhere, and the dance stage was packed. Tourists took photos of themselves in front of the throngs. There seemed to be more young people than ever before at Pride.
As the afternoon progressed, people retreated to the lawns surrounding the Plaza or moved on to community events and fundraisers that were happening throughout the city. The sun broke through by late afternoon, rewarding the hundreds who stayed to dance in the Plaza. By this time the Pride Calgary organizers looked pleased, albeit a little tired, as the day had been seemingly executed flawlessly.”
The decision to move to September proved decidedly successful. Calgary’s Pride Festival was the fastest-growing Pride in Canada for much of the 2010s, with attendance growing to 100,000+.
Calgary Gay History 