The theme of this year’s Vancouver Pride Parade is “50 Years and Still Fighting” and with many across the city and region set to join in the celebration on West End streets, there are venues across Vancouver that are stepping up to raise awareness and money for Pride-related causes.

The Mackenzie Room has rallied together eight other restaurants for a week-long joint-effort cocktail fundraiser to align with Pride – and being a great ally is the fitting theme.

From July 29 through August 4, the nine participating restaurants will each have a special cocktail on offer called “Pride Ally #stillfighting50” – in step with the Parade – and a percentage of the proceeds from each drink sold will go to QMUNITY.

QMUNITY is an LGBTQ community centre located on Bute Street in the Davie Village that works to improve queer, trans, and Two- Spirit lives by creating support, establishing connections, and providing leadership. QMUNITY has been a pillar of the Vancouver community for 40 years creating safe spaces, and working on behalf of a person’s right to define their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

Participating alongside The Mackenzie Room (Caledonia Wright) is Royal Dinette (Kaitlyn Stewart), Bar Tocador (Dale Styner/Guy Stowell), Como Taperia (Shaun Layton/TJ McWilliam), Gringos (Shoel Davidson), Nomad (Shawn Jones/Matthew Benevoli), Havana (Rich Charrois), Three Brits (Trevor Kallies), and Belgard Kitchen.

In addition to the drinks, The Mackenzie Room has assembled an incredible webpage spotlighting each of the bartenders and their thoughts on Pride and being an ally, and what it means to be a part of a community of cocktail-makers (especially during Pride).Go check it out and then plan your Pride week cocktail-ing accordingly.

—by Linsday William-Ross, Vancouver is Awesome