Continuing the series of Dufferin Trails videos we are highlighting the diversity of businesses in Dufferin County. Making it easy to find spaces of belonging in Dufferin County. Businesses owners are committed to ensuring their space is welcoming of everyone. The project aims to attract more locals and visitors to discover our niche markets so that they can spend more time and money in the region, growing community pride and increasing the visitor economy.
Our team enjoyed making this film for the DBOT The Dufferin Board of Trade. You can learn more about the work we do in the Tourism and Economic Development sectors here.
Full video transcript:
Our clients and customers… we have a lot of members of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as amongst our staff. Everybody deserves a safe space to come, hang out, be with family, be with friends, and not feel any different than the person sitting beside them. We love everybody, whether that’s our employees, our customers. I feel it’s really important that everybody feels included. We are a counterculture boutique. It’s a very special shop. You can come in and shop, you can get stuff for your garden, you can get a tattoo, you can get a piercing… I think that we provide an experience that is very unique. Revival 1863 is modeled after a speakeasy. It’s a nighttime cocktail bar with live music. We’re open every Friday and Saturday with awesome bands and an amazing atmosphere and really craft cocktails. We have a Parisian-style French restaurant. We serve desserts and Parisian-style food. We’re trying to create a different experience in town so people can feel like they have left the country and they’re visiting Paris. All of our pastries are made in-house. We have beautiful éclairs, petite cakes, mille-feuille, opera cakes… We’ve always kind of been a safe space for members of the LGBTQ+ community. I think it’s a really important thing that so many businesses say that we are a safe space for people in this community. We should always be working on what we can do better and what we can do better as a business. We have taken some steps to change some of the things that we’re doing to make people feel more comfortable. BVR and Revival 1863 has a great relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. We started hosting monthly drag shows just over a year ago now. The response has been phenomenal and they sell out every single month. It’s a lot of fun. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I know that people want to feel welcome when they come into places and know that there’s no judgment. We believe in including everyone, whether it is from your dietary issues, from the color of your skin to your sexual orientation. We are really fortunate enough to be in this loving community where it’s a safe place for my staff and my customers alike. Everybody is important and we’re all just people.