After months of the community rallying together, a rainbow crosswalk has been freshly painted in Chatham's downtown core.
Councillor Brock McGregor says it was finished being painted at the intersection of King St. and Forysth St. Tuesday night.
"I drove by Wednesday morning to check it out. A few people were walking across and taking a look and having a few conversations. Then there was a little bit of comment on social media of people being surprised it sort of turned up overnight," he says. "It was a pretty happy morning."
McGregor says it's a big relief the crosswalk got done before Chatham's pride celebrations.
"We're coming up to the pride week in Chatham, which is starting next week. Then they have some events the following weekend. I was really hopeful that we could get it done prior to that," he says.
McGregor says the crosswalk sends a very positive message.
" This community is accepting of whoever you are. If you want to be apart of Chatham-Kent, it doesn't matter [what your] race religion, culture, sexual orientation, or gender [is]," explains McGregor. "We welcome you in the community and we value everyone in the community. That's the message that it's sending and I'm certainly very happy to see it done."
Chatham-Kent council voted 10-7 on November 20 of last year to approve McGregor’s motion to install a rainbow crosswalk in Chatham, on the condition that the municipality was not on the hook for cost. Provincial funding covered around 75% of the project, and the remaining $2,000 was donated by Canadian Executive Search Group Inc. Other community donations to the project will be used to cover maintenance costs for the crosswalk.