Medicine Hat Pride director Ashley Macfarlane poses for a photo Monday afternoon in her house. Pride will be holding its first ever Coffee Talk event Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. at Station St. Coffee to offer a safe space to anyone who needs it. -- NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
Medicine Hat News
The Medicine Hat Pride Association is holding its first Coffee Night Tuesday in hopes of creating a monthly event for anyone to attend.
The event will take place from 6-8 p.m. at Station Coffee Co. and one of Pride’s directors Ashley Macfarlane says the group is excited to launch a new event series for the community.
“We’re going to have a coffee night and it’s going to be a great chance for people to come out and meet each other, and just to get to know some people in the community a little more,” she said. “We’re looking forward to getting the Coffee Talks going and just bringing some people together.”
The event will feature free coffee for anyone attending and Macfarlane says the goal of the event is to create a place where people can be comfortable with their surroundings.
“This is basically another way we’re trying to create a safe space for the community,” she said. “This is going to be a place where there is no judgment, and a place where people can come and not be afraid of who they are and things like that. We want to offer a place for a couple of hours where people know they won’t be judged or mistreated.”
The Pride Association has rented out the coffee shop for the event and is hoping to make use of all of the space it has at its disposal. At an event like this, Macfarlane says she hopes to see as many people as possible.
“We really just want to get the community together and get them out of their shell,” he said. “I feel like a lot of people don’t go to events because they feel like there’s not going to be that many people there, or because they feel like they might still be attacked. I think the more people we can get out to events like this to see what we’re all about, I think people can be really comfortable in a large, group setting.”
Macfarlane says the next Coffee Talk event is slated to take place during the Pride Week festivities, and is tentatively dated for Sept. 12.
For more information on Tuesday’s event go to its Facebook page.
