The show must go on, and Saint John’s drag community is able to follow through on that promise thanks to a working relationship with a local venue owner.
Local drag performers have partnered with the owner of the Cornerstone and the Rockland, a pair of wedding and event venues, to host Open Drag Night.
After the COVID-19 pandemic caused the closure of Boom!, a LGBTQ bar in Fredericton, and the cancellation of the Cornerstone and Rockland’s summer wedding schedules, Owner Natasha Tobias-Cooper says it was an easy decision to team up with the drag community.
“When I heard that Boom! had closed, we thought ‘my goodness, let’s reach out to the people we’ve worked with before,'” Tobias-Cooper said.
Among the group of drag performers is Dia Monde, a drag queen based in Saint John who helps organize Open Drag Night.
The semi-monthly event is a space for newcomers to the performing art to perform in a supportive environment.
The first Open Drag Night since the pandemic began was held in August, and the next is scheduled for September 26.
Monde says it’s still not easy to find spaces that are fully inclusive for LGBTQ individuals in the Maritimes.
“We have to read the room and read our setting,” she said. “Just having those safe spaces, where we can be ourselves – be authentic, not judged, everyone can be open. It’s just an amazing feeling, like a sigh of relief.”
What makes the venues a good fit for event organizers during the pandemic is the large space which allows for socially-distanced tables.
Monde says their first event in August was difficult to plan because of the new restrictions, but Tobias-Cooper helped ease that struggle.
“We have to limit our numbers, based on (COVID-19 protocols),” Monde said. “For her to let us come in and let us use that big venue, and have these events, it’s truly amazing.”
Tobias-Cooper says as COVID restrictions have loosened, next year’s wedding docket is already full, but they hope to continue making the space available to the drag community.
“I’m hoping even once wedding season starts, maybe it’s something we can do on a Thursday night or a Sunday night, to keep it going.”
More information on the next Open Drag Night can be found on Facebook.
