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lthough the outside temperatures barely reached double-digits last Friday night, dozens of people filled the tables and barstools at Rain Lounge for Sprinkles Friday, the bar’s weekly drag show. As the crowd waited for the host, Samantha Vega, to take the stage, tracks like Tove Lo’s “Cool Girl,” and Ariana Grande’s, “God is a woman,” reverberated off the decorative and bejeweled statues. Just before midnight, Vega strutted onto the dance floor to cheers from the audience.  

She’d go on to perform several songs, alternating stage time with other local drag queens until all five came together for a rendition of Destiny’s Child’s “Bootylicious” around 1 a.m. Rain Lounge’s owner, Duke Epolito, lets Vega perform at the North Geddes Street bar whenever she wants, Vega said – and that kind of inclusivity is typical of his approach at Rain Lounge. 

“I think he does that for a lot of people,” Vega said in an interview. “(He) makes it a very welcoming place, not just for performers but for people from every walk of life as well.” 

On Saturday night, Vega and eight other local queens — four of whom are Sprinkles Friday regulars — will showcase their looks and talents at the second-annual Salt City Drag Battle at Syracuse Stage. Each contestant will present two looks and one talent performance, with the top two finalists competing in a lip-sync battle.  

Hosted by Mrs. Kasha Davis and Miss Darienne Lake, the competition will crown one winner the 2019 Salt City Queen, earning both the title and a $1,000 prize. The event will include refreshments from Glazed & Confused and Pastabilities, according to Syracuse Stage’s website. Tickets start at $30 and can be purchased online. 

With the spike in popularity of reality television shows such as “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” drag culture in central New York has experienced a makeover of its own. Several of this weekend’s contestants said that, behind the hairspray, makeup, heels and sparkly dresses, drag is an art form that’s ever-evolving. 

Ms. Drips – the family-friendly version of her drag name that she sometimes uses – is aware of the fact that her adopted moniker can be “a bit repulsive” and off-putting. She likes the shock value of it, she said.  

About four years ago, she got into drag when she went to a show and was selected to get a made over onstage. Her name, which started as P*ssy Grips and evolved throughout the night, came from the suggestion of someone at the club, she said. Soon enough, she ended up adopting the drag persona and performing at more shows. 

A Salt City Drag Battle returner, she’s inspired by female rappers like Lil’ Kim and Nicki Minaj. She taught herself to do makeup by watching Miss Fame’s YouTube tutorials. Drips, who performs weekly at Sprinkles Friday, said the queens get ready for each show together and tend to pull inspiration from one another. 

“It’s kind of like a weekly ritual that we go through,” she said. “I’m thankful for that because we definitely have… a very tight-knit, family-like community.” 

As drag has become more mainstream, opportunities have popped up for local queens at places like casinos, restaurants, private nightclubs and theaters, she said. But given drag’s expanding reach, Drips said that people tend to have a narrow view of what they think drag is based on reality TV.  

“The truth is that that is not the reality of drag. It comes in so many different forms,” she said.  

Nonetheless, these expanded venue opportunities “bring drag to the forefront,” and give more exposure to the performers and the art as a whole, she said. This is especially true with the Syracuse Stage show, since people who may be uncomfortable going to a nightclub or gay bar can experience drag at a theater, she said.  

While she didn’t expect to become a regular performer, drag has helped her celebrate a different side of her identity, outside of her professional life. 

“I kind of grew to love it and love the culture of it,” she said. “I really feel like I become a different person once I step out on stage and I’m all done up and everything. I still get an adrenaline rush before I go onstage every week.” 

LeRue performed in their first drag show three years ago at Trexx, a nightclub approximately a mile away from Rain Lounge that is also known for hosting drag queens. Movies like “The Birdcage” first introduced LeRue to drag growing up, and eventually LeRue began going to gay bars. They got into drag as an activity to replace competitive cheerleading once they aged out.  

Like Drips, LeRue has found that drag has become more mainstream since they began performing. LeRue is also part of the cast of queens at Rain Lounge every Friday, saying it’s become “like a little part-time job,” and has enabled them to make more money and travel more. 

Last year’s drag battle was a lot of fun, LeRue said, and they’re looking forward to competing again this year. 

“Salt City Drag Battle is definitely opening doors,” they said. “(Drag is) getting bigger in this area and that’s what I’m liking.” 

LeRue draws inspiration in part from New York City ball culture. Balls originated in the mid-1980s as safe spaces for many LGBTQ+ people within the black and Latinx communities. Similar to talent competitions, participants would design costumes and pose on a runway for prizes, which were given to the contestants that most accurately represented the night’s theme, according to AMNY.  

LeRue’s other inspirations include singer-songwriter, FKA Twigs, and their drag mother, Celeste LeRue, both of who played into their drag name. Given their close relationship with their drag mother, LeRue hopes to influence new drag queens the same way Celeste influenced them. 

“I feel like I have to be kind,” they said. “I want to be almost that motherly figure for people that want to get started in (drag) or are interested.”  

A self-proclaimed “awkward theater kid,” Boxx studied theater in college and produced drag shows in Binghamton for a decade. During that time, he learned a lot from queens in Syracuse and often looked up to them, he said. He’s also admired hosts Mrs. Kasha Davis and Miss Darienne Lake, as well as the other competitors. 

Boxx, who has since moved to Syracuse, has worked for both Rain Lounge and Trexx. He went from performing in Syracuse a few times a year to getting a new gig every weekend, he said. The Salt City Drag Battle is an opportunity for him to show the community that he’s here and not going anywhere. 

“I’m looking forward to taking the big Syracuse Stage with people that I love and respect and really enjoy working with, and to show them how much I’ve grown over the years from working with them,” he said. 

His connection with his fans sets him apart from other queens, he said. He tries to present himself as a relatable, people-person’s type of queen, but is inspired by anything “larger than life, colorful and explosive, kind of like my personality.” Boxx also said that pop culture, outer space and “anything weird or quirky” inspire him.  

With a theater background, Boxx has said audience members can expect a combination of song, dance and acting, as well as celebrity impersonations at this weekend’s competition. 

“I’m going to bring a little bit of everything,” he said. “You’re not going to get just your cookie-cutter drag performance for this drag battle.” 

For Blasé, who’s been performing since 2015, drag is an art form that demands time and dedication. With this weekend’s competition, she’s hoping to bring in a new and refreshed definition of what drag can be. 

“I want to definitely show that we can do more than just lip-sync,” she said. “There is actual art that goes in behind it.” 

Contestants will showcase two looks and one talent performance at Saturday’s competition. Blasé’s talent is one she has been studying since she was five years old.  

“I’m most excited to show people this newer side of me that they haven’t seen,” she said. 

Blasé learned about drag from watching “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” and being exposed to performers at nightclubs. She’s inspired by queens on the RuPaul circuit, like Violet Chachki and Miss Fame, but also said she draws a lot of her inspiration from runway models and “real women.” 

Queens have gained more respect since she started performing, Blasé said – she remembered when drag used to carry a negative connotation and was considered trashy. The standard for drag performances has risen both in Binghamton, where she lives, and in the rest of central New York, she added.  

The local drag scene in upstate New York has consistently included talent from new areas, utilized drag venues and introduced new queens, Blasé added. The Salt City Drag Battle will help to showcase some of this new talent, she said. 

“Everyone has really been stepping their game up trying to keep up with the current times of drag culture,” she said. 

Kelly, who moved to Syracuse to study acting at Syracuse University a year ago, has expanded her drag, personally, more than professionally far in central New York. Her first time going out in drag was on Halloween in 2017. 

Born and raised in Barcelona, Spain, Kelly calls herself “the love child of Gwen Stefani and Zelda Fitzgerald.” Coming to the United States to study dramatic arts, SU ended up being the best choice for her. She has since found that drag is very welcomed in the local theater community.  

The name Kalinda Kelly comes from the character Kalinda Sharma on “The Good Wife” and film actress-turned-princess Grace Kelly. Combining the two in a name gives her drag persona a blend of edginess and elegance, Kelly said.  

While she’s partly inspired by “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and queens like Chachki, Naomi Smalls and Valentina, many of Kelly’s influences come from abroad, including German queen, Katy Bähm, and Australian queen, Courtney Act. Besides foreign queens, Kelly draws influence from Spanish filmmaker, Pedro Almodóvar’s work from the 1980s and 1990s, as well as La Movida Madrileña. 

Known as “the Madrid Scene” in English, the Spanish countercultural movement took place mainly in Madrid after the death of dictator, Francisco Franco, in 1975. The movement’s elements of goth, glamor and kitsch, when combined correctly, can become like a glamorous telenovela, Kelly said. 

Saturday will be Kelly’s first-ever drag competition. 

“I’m really excited to try this new outlet,” she said. 

Vega, a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, first performed in 1995, in what was western New York’s first college drag show – two decades before Mrs. Kasha Davis, a Rochester native, would appear on “Drag Race.” Vega is very proud to have been one of the organizers of a sustainable, relevant event that integrated part of LGBT culture into college campus life, she said. 

Like Ms. Drips, she’d thought she’d only be taking the stage one time, but she ended up loving it way more than she’d anticipated. 

“Once you get bit by the bug, you’re stuck with it,” she said. “You love it, you love the attention, you love how beautiful you feel … there’s a little bit of a rush that you get when you get onstage. It’s just really amazing, it’s kind of addicting.” 

Throughout the years, Vega has learned to adapt her performances depending on the crowd. Elements of drag, like elements of fashion, can become obsolete. As she said, it becomes important for queens to reinvent themselves from time to time if they want to remain relevant. 

For Vega, this means thinking of her drag persona as female interpretation, not female impersonation, and combining elements of humor and pageant glam to make each performance her own. 

“I hear a song or I see a performer and I like what I see, but I have to make something my own as well,” she said. 

She’s been hosting Sprinkles Fridays for two years now. Between the weekly shows, and other interactions with Rochester-area queens, she has a personal relationship with each of the drag battle contestants. Even though the contestants will compete against each other this weekend, she said, the atmosphere is nothing but friendly. 

“Even though you’re competing to win, you’re also rooting for the other contestants,” she said. “We’re all talking about how excited we are. The energy in preparation for the show has been really great.”

Photos by Dan Lyon | Assistant Photo Editor, Designs by Talia Trackim | Digital Design Director