Wolfville's new rainbow crosswalk shows a 'safe harbour'
Mayor Jeff Cantwell assured new crosswalk as safe as traditional ones
Call it Wolfville's Abbey Road.
The town's Main Street is now home to a rainbow-coloured crosswalk near Linden Avenue, in front of Acadia Cinema's Al Whittle Theatre.
"I might do the barefooted Paul McCartney thing," said Mayor Jeff Cantwell.
For Cantwell the crosswalk is the town's way of opening up its arms.
"We don't fly the Pride flag all year long but we can fly this crosswalk all year long...To me it's a bit of an image of a safe harbour. Come on in here and everything is OK."
He says the colours are more than just representative of the LGBT community.
"Diversity in everything. Diversity in culture, ethnicity, in lifestyle...It's a statement that we're a caring community."
The idea was first mentioned by Meg Townsend, equity officer at Acadia University, about two years ago after she saw them in Vancouver.
"I am happy to report that I have heard nothing but positive comments thus far," she said. "The crosswalk is lovely and hopefully the town will get more to show this community's commitment to inclusivity."
Cantwell says it's as safe as the traditional white-striped crosswalks.
"The fact that it is different, that it is going to jump off the street at you I think it's actually going to be more safe," he said.
The mayor's only concern is that it isn't bright enough.
"We're working on that," he said.
"If you do a Google search on these rainbow crosswalks and boy there are some really exciting ones out there."