Blogging buddy Mary Kirkland of Dark Thoughts blog has a regular feature called "Freebie Friday" where she tells us about all the fab free items and free samples she scores in the U.S. of A. It's much, much harder to get freebies in Canada, so I haven't been able to share any comparable posts.
UNTIL NOW!
When I was in Winnipeg, Manitoba in June, it just happened to be Pride Month. One day I was idly strolling in my old neighbourhood and went into a used bookstore to browse around. An LGBTQ+ book display near the front of the store featured a bowl full of handcrafted cross-stitched Rainbow Heart key rings. A small sign said "Free! Take one! Happy Pride!"
So I did take one, and here it is --
It's a quality craft too, done on plastic canvas and double-sided so that both stitchery "backsides" are sandwiched together and hidden inside. It measures 4" long and 2" wide.
And wow, it took me right back to the early days of Winnipeg Pride Marches in the late 80s and early 90s, when Pride celebrations were still small and shunned, before Pride became more accepted and commercialized. In those days, there was no such thing as manufactured Rainbow merch. Everything we had for the celebration was handcrafted -- locally-made t-shirts by bars and queer organizations, homemade Pride flags and rainbow balloon displays, home-baked Pink Triangle sugar cookies with tinted frosting, Rice Krispie treats turned into rainbow flag goodies with the magic of food colouring. People were very inventive, like the two dykes selling hot dogs out of a mobile cart while wearing t-shirts that said "Lesbians Like Wieners Too!" And needless to say, all the floats in the March were improvised, somewhat wonky creations of artistry and defiance, blaring club music from boom boxes hidden behind the floats' scenery and gyrating bodies.
Oh, Winnipeg, those were the days.
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