CHICAGO, IL. —Chicago's first ever drag festival has just announced its 50+ artist lineup including internationally touring headliners, reality TV superstars and homegrown Chicago talent! Chicago Is A Drag Festival takes place on Friday, June 28thfrom 4-11pm in the Cheetah Gym Parking Lot in Andersonville ( 5238 N Clark St ).
While Chicago has a wide variety and long legacy of drag culture, there has never been a central platform to celebrate its entire range. In curating this festival, nightlife collective A Queer Pride looks to equally represent drag from across generations, neighborhoods, and performance styles, in addition to diversity in race, gender and sexuality. The headlining performers for the festival include Raja ( winner of RuPaul's Drag Race ), Candis Cayne( winner of Miss Continental and celebrity choreographer ) and Spikey Van Dykey - along with special guest hosts Tiffany "New York" Pollard and TS Madison.
June 2019 marks a number of LGBTQ milestones including 50 years of Chicago Pride, the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and 50 years of Chicago's legendary Baton Lounge. Celebrating the past, present and future of Chicago drag, Chicago Is A Drag Festival will feature celebrated contestants of RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Dida Ritz and Monica Beverly Hillz, Chicago drag powerhouses such as T Rex, Lucy Stoole, Kat Sass, Imp Queen, Aunty Chan, and established pageant titleholders like Mimi Marks, Mokha Montrese, Sheri Payne, Sigourney Beaver, along with DJs Dapper ( smallWorld Collective ), Draco ( Teen Witch Fan Club ), Lamia ( Swoon ), Vitigrrl ( Peach ) and [X]P ( Duro ).
Check out the full lineup at the link: do312.com/chicagoisadrag .
Chicago Is A Drag Festival is working very closely with the creators of Back Lot Bash to make the festival possible by adding it as an extra day of programming to Back Lot Bash's weekend of Pride events. Over the past 15 years, Back Lot Bash has been dedicated to featuring local and emerging women musicians and established performers of different genres as well as the first ever Chicago LGBTQ family day. In 2017 it's creators, Christina Weismore and Aimee Klujian were recipients of the esteemed HRC Community Service Award in recognition of their community involvement and the impact they have had in supporting and advocating for Chicago's LGBTQ community.
Event: Chicago Is A Drag Festival
Date & Time: Friday, June 28th, 4-11pm
Venue: Cheetah Gym Parking Lot
GA and VIP Meet & Greet Tickets available at www.chicagoisadrag.com
Special thanks to Back Lot Bash, Do312, Deep Eddy Vodka, Stolen X, Miller Lite, Red Bull, Dispensary 33, Scarpetta, Howard Brown Health, Chicago Reader, Werrrk.com
About A Queer Pride:
A Queer Pride is a collective of seasoned professionals from Chicago's nightlife landscape, working together to celebrate Pride throughout the year. A combined effort between Scott Cramer, Abhijeet, Melissa Bitch, and Bambi Banks Couleé, A Queer Pride actively seeks to provide a platform to marginalized and underrepresented members of the LGBTQ community in a political climate that needs these voices to be heard even louder.
—From a press release
