Last Friday night, three drag queens from Pride Niagara performed for a full house at Ironwood Cider House in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
High energy dance music, colourful wigs and a sea of sparkling sequins filled the room while spectators enjoyed themselves.
During the 90-minute show, drag queens Rhonda Richards, Macy Manolo and Empress Claudia Silva lip-synched to high energy artists such as Mariah Carey, Madonna and Whitney Houston and during costume changes, interacted with audience members with jokes and stories.
Pride Niagara is a not-for-profit organization that “celebrates Niagara’s sexual and gender diverse community and its supporters,” said board member Enzo De Divitiis. “Pride Niagara develops positive and safe spaces across Niagara, providing social connectivity, community outreach, and information throughout the Niagara Region.”
Known as the Queen Mother of Drag, Rhonda Richards explains, “I am a man who dresses as a woman, and performs as a woman,” said Richards, “and when I take it all off, I’m still a man underneath. That’s a drag queen.”
Frank Roberto, from Niagara Falls, has seen this performance five times because he “enjoys the liveliness of the performance, the outfits, the personalities and the general charisma of the event.” He is also friends with drag queen and Pride Niagara Ambassador Macy Manolo.
Richards wants her audience members to “just relax and enjoy yourself. Take it in.” Richards, who works in the hotel industry, says “you might be shocked because you don’t know who is under all this. Just be yourself,” she advises.
The evening closed with a duet of Abba’s Mama Mia by Manolo and Silva, the audience singing, clapping and laughing along. Julia Lidgett, from Niagara Falls, summed up the evening as “wonderful, and the vibe was so happy, cheerful and friendly.”
“With International Pride month quickly approaching,” said Divitiis, “planning for Pride Niagara’s festival is in full swing.” This year’s Pride Festival runs May 27 to June 4, with various events throughout Niagara.