Edmonton Drag Festival’s 4th year a space for ‘joy and celebration,’ ‘learning and growth’

Drag performers from all over the world arrived in Churchill Square this weekend for the fourth Edmonton Drag Festival.

Pride Month celebrations are well underway in Alberta’s capital city, most notably with the fourth year of an all-inclusive, family-friendly drag festival held in the downtown core.

The Edmonton Drag Festival is set to feature 120 drag queens, queer artists and performers, some of whom have taken on national and international stages through RuPaul’s Drag Race, Dragula and King of Drag, throughout an otherwise dreary weekend.

“It’s a wide range of styles of drag that you’ll get to see. Masculine, feminine, and some of the more alternative kinds of drag as well,” said Cheyenne Mihko Kihew, known by their drag persona as Tugs.

Attendees will also be able to visit various community organizations, vendors, panels and workshops.

“Ultimately it’s a chance for our community to come together, celebrate, enjoy the start of Pride together, and welcome our allies in as well.”

Shane Onyou, who grew up in Fort McMurray, enjoys making his way to the city to express himself through his drag art.

“I got to come out and be trans in my 40s, because when I was younger, in the 80s, I couldn’t do that, so I got to express that … So this is my pride and joy, being able to be authentic,” he said Saturday.

He’s been with the drag festival since its inception and says many of his fellow performers are happy to answer questions, share space and enjoy the city with attendees.

The festival was created four years ago by Conroy Smith in response to the political climate south of the border that in turn affected Canada, they added.

“It’s important in a time where there’s a lot of misunderstanding and miseducation around drag, around queer and trans identities, and it’s really important that people get to see us existing in the world and taking up space and doing it in a place that maybe dispels some of those myths,” Mihko Kihew said.

“So it’s not just a place for joy and celebration, but it’s also a place for learning and growth, and hopefully collaboration.”

The small organizer team, which already took on the challenge of putting together an event of the festival’s caliber, are now battling this weekend’s weather forecast.

Potential attendees are asked to check the festival’s social media for updates.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Connor Hogg