Morden receives swell of support for first drag brunch

A Southern Manitoba town's first drag brunch is helping grow pride on the Prairies, one performance at a time.

When people arrived for the Y2K Drag Brunch in Morden, Man., about 130 kilometres south of Winnipeg, on Saturday they were greeted by a sea of colour, rainbow flags and dozens of cheerful rally-goers ready to support the sold-out show. 

Tye Dandridge-Evancio, programs outreach and exhibitions co-ordinator at Pembina Hills Arts Council,  helped organize the brunch, which featured six drag performers on The United Church Pembina Parish stage.

As a queer man, he said he wanted to ensure there are welcoming spaces for other rural LGBTQ community members in Morden. 

"Honestly the support that we've gotten from the community, I'm elated," he said.

"Growing up there wasn't ... content whatsoever available for people like me," he said. "That's something I wished I'd always had."

Throughout the day, sounds of music and cheering soon filled the church, as the large crowd outside held fast despite the bitter cold outside, proudly holding their signs bearing colourful, positive messages. The show, which featured the  beats and "funky, tacky clothes" of the year 2000, was all about "singing songs, playing games and eating delicious food," said Dandridge-Evancio. 

"That's really kind of what it's all about…. is just to have a have a really fun, good time with a super supportive group of people that are all just looking for the same, you know, sense of jubilation."

Peter Wohlgemut, president of Pembina Valley Pride, and members of the church parish came together to rally outside with messages of love and acceptance to ensure the show was not interrupted by a potential counter-protest.

The group braved temperatures hovering around –25 C for hours, to make sure that anyone who came to the doors knew they and the drag show were valued in Morden, Wohlgemut said.

They said they did see some protesters  — including two people across the street from the church and a car that tried to park in the church parking lot that was escorted off the property.

It was vital to see drag brunch in town, they said, because it's a fun time that also promotes inclusion. Until recently, a lot of LGBTQ folk, rainbow community members and others could often feel isolated because they didn't have ways of connecting, they said.

"You have support, you have a community right here. You don't have to leave the area to find your rainbow community," Wohlgemut said. "I'm hoping they walk away feeling very happy that they attended and also feeling connected and knowing ... there's these kind of things happen in rural Manitoba."

Dandridge-Evancio worked with Morden Drag Queen Peachy Keen to bring the Y2K Brunch together.

Keen, who was one of the performers on Saturday, said she always wanted to create and make space for queer people in Morden because it's something she craved growing up.

She said she was inspired to become a drag queen by the drag performers she saw on television. Watching their performances, she knew it was something she wanted to do, and to help share those experiences of being queer with anyone who needed it.

"I feel like ... bringing one here, it opens up a lot more opportunities to have in other places and have just more of them in quantity," she said. "We need more of them because it's …  a safe space for some people that are trying to figure out who they're trying to be."

Having the family-friendly drag brunch in a rural Prairie setting was essential, said Dandridge-Evancio, because it shows there is an LGBTQ Pembina community for those who need it.

He wants other small towns and communities to do more events like this, because sometimes rural LGBTQ folks feel like they need to move to a larger urban centre like Vancouver or Toronto to find a place they fit in, he said. Events like the drag brunch show they are seen and wanted in their home communities.

"Make space for the Prairie gay,  make space for people that want to stay here and have their home be their home," he said.

"People shouldn't have to displace themselves from their home to see more of their community, when there's a community in Morden that just needs to be embraced, nurtured and grown."