This past Sunday I headed to 51 Main for the much anticipated Slay-sion Invasion drag show, presented by Amy “Taco Taco” Myers. Amy’s been serving up real deliciousness at Fiesta Cafe (get the Alex tacos) and curating amazing Sunday night drag performances in C-U for years, most notably at C Street Bar, which closed its doors permanently in July this year. It was Amy’s birthday on Sunday, and what better way for Amy to celebrate than to bring Drag Night back to C-U with “1,000 killerwatts of glam, glitter, and slay.”
The night featured not one, but two Queens from Ru-Paul’s Drag Race: India Ferrah and Trinity K. Bonet. Other amazing traveling Queens included Calexus Carrington-Steele from St. Louis, Missouri, Amaya Sexton from Dayton, Ohio, and Kelasia Karmikal from Las Vegas, Nevada. I was also glad to see our local Slayers in action: Peach of the Midwest, GiGi Mayonaé, and Asiannah B. Carrington who I got to meet backstage!
It was a blast. The night was expectedly filled with all the uniqueness, charisma, nerve, and talent of the Queens. And the more we screamed, the harder they worked! I came with a camera that is great for sports photography, and as you can imagine, great for drag. I don’t think I could truly capture how hard these Queens worked, but dang did I enjoy that VIP treatment and have fun snip-snapping the fantastic night of performances.
I caught up with Amy after the show and was happy to learn that there are many more drag-tastic nights to come and that she’s got big plans to bring the PRIDE to Sundays at 51 Main. I’m excited to see what develops and I’m looking forward to you reading the following plug:
The Official 2017 C-U Pride Fest After Party is happening at 51 Main on Saturday, September 16th. Mark those calendars! The night will feature Gia Gunn and Pearl from RuPaul’s Drag Race and a fantastic line-up of Boylesque performances. Check out Uniting Pride of Champaign County’s website for more information.