Worcester Pride is back, starting with Saturday's pageant and talent show. Here's what to know.
WORCESTER — Summer may be winding down, but Worcester Pride is just getting started.
The annual Pride Worcester Pageant returns Saturday, heralding next month's Pride Week in the city, Sept. 1-11.
This year’s pageant is significant not only because it will be the first since 2019 — prior to the start of the coronavirus pandemic — but also due to the restructuring of the Worcester Pride organization into the smaller groups composing the Worcester Queer Coalition.
“As a community we’ve been having these really difficult conversations over the last few years about the direction that Pride should go in and the commitment to antiracism,” co-organizer David Connor said. “There’s a real boost in morale from this pageant.”
Indeed, it all kicks off with Saturday's 6 p.m. pageant at the Jean McDonough Arts Center's (JMAC) BrickBox Theater on 20 Franklin St.
Organizing Pride activities such as the pageant falls under the responsibility of Queer the Scene. Connor, along with Alford Green, said they have been working over the last several months to make the pageant one of Worcester Pride’s flagship events.
The celebration of the city’s LGBTQ+ community in September draws throngs of visitors from throughout New England as a last hurrah of the region’s summer Pride events.
More: A beautiful day: Worcester Pride Rally & Queer the Block Party a hit downtown
“This is a huge opportunity,” Connor said.
Miss Gay Worcester to be crowned
The pageant will feature six contestants in drag competing for the title of Miss Gay Worcester 2022 across multiple categories, including a talent show. Each one has a different talent, from painting to musical instruments to martial arts.
"What feels different this year is it’s a lot of newer and upcoming artists," said Ricky Lullanda, onstage as Robyn Millyonz, who came in third at the 2019 pageant. "I’m very excited to see new people joining because it means we’re keeping a legacy alive — not only drag but LGBTQ+ artists in general."
"It’s going to be really cool to see how different we all are but how great it pulls together as a show," added Lullanda, who will be singing Lady Gaga's song "Artpop" while painting acrylics simultaneously.
Jacob Giardina, onstage as Cortana Wednesday, will also be singing but accompanied with an instrument instead of canvas — the electric ukulele.
"I wanted to incorporate something a little bit more from my own personal identity as Jacob into my drag," he said, "it's really important to me to combine those two worlds.
"It’s going to be more of a formal event.”
Contestants will have a dressing room to prepare their act and benefit from the JMAC’s lighting and tech staff, Giardina said.
The event is a first for the JMAC BrickBox Theater.
History exhibit included
The new space also allows for the event to widen its scope “and pay homage to the past drag queens and all the work that they’ve done for the community over the decades,” Connor said.
The JMAC salon will host a history exhibit, courtesy of the Worcester Historical Museum, sharing pieces of the history of drag and of the queer community in Worcester, including the first documented Miss Gay Worcester dress from the 1950s, on loan from the museum.
Rick Guskey, winner of Miss Gay Worcester 1983, will also be present and recognized.
While acknowledging the past, the pageant was organized with an eye to the community’s future as well. The contestants submitted online videos of themselves answering the questions of what does Pride mean to them and how, if they win, they will help the evolved Worcester Pride and further the conversation around anti-racism and gender inclusion.
The winner of the pageant will win a cash prize and also sign a yearlong contract to become an ambassador for LGBTQ+ Worcester, expected to attend conferences and leadership seminars representing the community, such as social justice state conferences, Connections, in Sutton, for youth advocates and Leadership Worcester’s Arts and Culture Day at the Chamber of Commerce.
It will also serve as another kind of prize as professional development, Connor said, helping them get out there in public.
"They will also attend other festivals with their crown and sash," he said, "leading people in the public to talk about what’s happening in Worcester and this bigger vision for the local LGBTQ+ community."
The implications and possibilities of the ambassadorship to make a difference are not lost on Giardina.
“Genderqueer people can still feel uncomfortable in strictly gay spaces," he said, and drag as an art form can help the marginalized community feel a little more at home, he said.
Giardina said he hopes to contribute to that in his persona as Cortana, as well as the platform within the community gained by winning the pageant.
“Drag has been a journey with my identity and gender as nonbinary,” he said. “I definitely want to help switch the narrative from just a gay scene to a queer scene and make it more inclusive for everyone.
“I want to be a member of the community and someone that people can see in the room and know ‘I have a friend here because Cortana’s here.’ ”
For more information, including tickets, go to eventbrite.com/e/pride-worcester-pageant-18-tickets-395624041157
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester Pride Pageant 2022 this weekend at Brickbox
