HARRISTON – A Harriston intersection has become a bit more colourful and a lot more inclusive.
The Town of Minto now has Wellington County’s first rainbow crosswalk as a symbol of inclusion for the LGBTQ+ community and the founders of the Pride movement.
“We feel happy, we feel proud of our town and our community, there was a lot of support for it and we’re very grateful,” said Rosie Krul, Minto Pride committee member.
The pedestrian crossover was installed last week at the Young Street and Elora Street South intersection in Harriston and painted this week.
Krul explained the rainbow crosswalk, also called an inclusive crosswalk, features the five colours of the standard Pride flag — red, orange, yellow and purple — and then the pink, white and teal of the transgender flag.
“The transgender community as a whole has been facing a lot more discrimination in regards to legal rights and in regards to discrimination in the community as a whole,” Krul said.
There is also brown and black which Krul said is an acknowledgement the Pride movement started with people of colour.
“I think it’s important for small towns especially to have visual representation of inclusion so that when people are coming into a small town they don’t make false assumptions that small towns are not welcoming or inclusive to everyone because that’s not the case,” Krul said.
Mayor George Bridge also highlighted the crossover as a way to show Minto is a welcoming community on a well-travelled road. He praised Minto Pride for the work they’ve put into bringing this to Minto.
It’s also functional as Bridge said there’s a lot of pedestrian crossing at the intersection.
“You have the pool down there and the arena and so lots of kids from this side of town that’s a better way to get across a busy road to get to those facilities as well as they can go to the school,” Bridge said.
The additional $7,000 for special paint was fundraised and did not come from tax dollars.
Council approved this first rainbow crosswalk as a pilot project but Krul said she would love to see one in Clifford and Palmerston but also in other towns in Wellington County.
Krul encouraged those who want to have a crosswalk like this in their town to bring a proposal to council.
“The worst they can say is no and then you can always fine tune it and bring it back again,” Krul said. “I think it’s helpful now that there’s been a recent one done in Wellington County.”
