Plans are in place to have Petrolia's first rainbow crosswalk painted next summer.
The second layer of asphalt is expected to be paved at some point near the beginning of summer in 2022 on Greenfield Street. Once that's done, a rainbow crosswalk dedicated to the local LGBTQ2+ community will be painted from the front doors of Victoria Hall to the municipal parking lot.
Director of Marketing, Arts and Communications Laurissa Ellsworth said plans for a rainbow crosswalk have been discussed for a number of years.
"We've identified as a community that we need to be prepared to show the inclusion that we talk about all of the time," she said. "We always talked about the relation to one, the expense of painting it, and two, the longevity. For us, a lot of the consideration around where to put it had to do with future planned road construction."
The paint is expected to last for several summers and Ellsworth said the cost has already been built into the Greenfield road reconstruction project.
“I am proud of the steps that staff have taken to illustrate to our community and visitors that Petrolia is an inclusive, diverse and accepting place to live, work and play,” said Mayor Brad Loosley in a statement.
It's estimated that more than 40,000 visitors will walk across the rainbow crosswalk post-pandemic.
"It's one of our busiest crosswalks in town," said Ellsworth.
So far, Ellsworth said the public reaction has been positive over social media.
"Many people are citing that they're not only proud of our community for taking this step but they're also proud to read the comments on our social media in that none of them are negative," she said.
In the rainbow crosswalk, red represents life, orange stands for healing, yellow signifies sunlight, green represents nature, blue stands for peace, and purple is for spirit.
