Spring is never really sprung until the new crop of queens from RuPaul's Drag Race make their first showing. And March showers are gonna bring drag flowers this Friday, March 24, when season nine debuts at 7 pm on VH1.
Here is our breakdown of the best viewing parties, both for the premiere and the whole hot mess of a season. Start your engines!
Join hostess Dixie Lynn Cartwright and her pit crew at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted St., for the first episode on one HUGE screen, plus dozens of smaller ones. This is Chicago's o-fficial RPDR viewing party and will take place each Friday throughout the season. Resident Sidetrack divas The Vixen and Drag Race alum DiDa Ritz will be serving up "Ru-formances" during the night. Start your engines with games, exclusive RuPaul's Drag Race swag and a bunch of fun surprises. Shantay, you stay after the show for Friday night fun with party music until 2 am.
Hometown girl Shea Coulee guest-hosts the premiere at Roscoe's, 3356 N. Halsted St., along with RPDR alums Shangela and Naomi Smalls, plus Chicago's very own Trannika Rex. Doors open at 5 and you can bolster your booze intake with the unlimited burger bar from 6-9 pm. Immediately following the episode, there will be a Q&A with the hosts. A them your Qs until 9, when a photo line will form. Stick around to see Shangela, Shea and Naomi performing live at 11 pm and 12:30 am.
Did you know that Hamburger Mary's is an official sponsor of this season's Untucked? Stop up to Mary's Attic, 5400 N. Clark St., for the premiere party and come back each week, as starting with the second week, each night's festivities will kick off with the airing of the previous week's Untucked, just to get you up to speed. Mary's has developed a special contest for viewers to win bar tabs, cash and other prizes. Doors open at 6:30 for the premiere party and will be open at 6 in following weeks, with the Untucked airing beginning at 6:30 to precede the main Ru-vent.
Kick back at The Sofo Tap, 4923 N. Clark St., and enjoy the show with host Thomas Andrews, $7 Big Miller Lites, $4 Fireball shots and $2 PBR cans. And if the show gets you all hot and bothered, continue to heat up the night with their weekly bear party, GRRR, It's Friday, beginning at 9 pm.
Big Chicks, 5024 N Sheridan Rd., has a party with food and drink specials fit for a queen. Strap on your heels and snatch that lacefront down from the shelf, because each week, a $15 bar tab will go to the most creative look. At the season finale party, all winners will have a chance to come back and compete for the grand prize.
D.S. Tequila Co., 3352 N. Halsted St., hosts a weekly viewing party which promises "all screens, full sound, some drama."
The Glenwood, 6962 N. Glenwood Ave., has devised a delicious game to play while you watch on their seven screens. When you buy a drink, open a tab and get a ticket, on which you will write your name and drop into the cup corresponding to the queen you think is going to win. When the winner is announced, they will choose a ticket from the winner's cup and the owner of that ticket gets their tab paid. It adds a whole new level to the fierce competition.
Crew Bar + Grill, 4804 N. Broadway, takes a brief break from the ball sports to gag you with eleganza on all screens with sound, $5 Lagunitas drafts and bottles and $4 select shots.
Hydrate, 3458 N. Halsted St., features a $4 Belvedere cocktail from when the doors open at 6 until the end of the show at 8. You are encouraged to get there early, so as to snatch up a top space.
The Call, 1547 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., keeps the Happy Hour going with $2.50 well cocktails and $3 domestic bottled beers and no cover.
