The very first Pride Week in Cochrane has been filled with different events and activities to celebrate diversity and inclusion, and now Cochranites can look forward to some new artwork popping up around town. Two separate trash bins on fifth ave (One by the site of the old swimming pool and the other near No Frills) are being painted with murals that have been designed from the ground up by teenagers from The Club, the teens’ space here in town.

Nola Hume, the Youth and Volunteer Program Coordinator for The Club says each mural will have its own unique theme. “One of them is gonna be an under the sea kind of theme, and one of them is an outer space kind of theme. The lids have the rainbows and then we're gonna have our big peace sign on there too and then the rest is going to kind of be some really creative stuff that the kids have come up with. 

“They have some sea creatures and they're gonna have, you know, the trans colored flag on the sea creature and there's going to be just different aspects of inclusivity and diversity, which is really what the kids want to have come across in their art so it's super great.”

Hume says that even though this is Cochrane’s first pride week, acceptance is nothing new for local teens. “One of the beautiful things about this generation is that they are so accepting of each other. They definitely feel pretty excited about some of the things that have been going on with the flag-raising. I think it's important for the teenagers who are identifying in the LGBTQIA2S group, and community that they know that the adults in our community are accepting of them, and everyone, regardless of how you identify or your culture, or where you were born or any of that. 

“I think that's what's most important to them about Pride Week. You know, amongst themselves, they're very accepting but it's really amazing for them to know that us old folks are accepting too.”

Work on the two murals will continue throughout the rest of the week and with enough positive feedback, The Club is hoping to develop even more artwork around Cochrane.