Drag'd Out Festival dazzles township

CROWDS went wild with excitement at last weekend’s Drag’d Out Festival as music pumped while top Australian drag performers dazzled audiences in a number of highly entertaining events around town. Another fabulous success following last year’s inaugural showcase, organisers were thrilled to announce the festival will be back again next year. Beechworth’s Lisa Peters said the festival had been brilliant, fun, inclusive, bright and energetic. “We were away last year so we made sure we stayed home for this one,” she said. Ms Peters said the festival encouraged everyone to accept people for being themselves. “I think that's a message we need to have more of,” she said. Beechworth’s Cathy Sandow said the festival was extremely inclusive. "It has a great friendly vibe as well as the town benefits from new visitors who I’m sure will return,” she said. “We had a ball at the street party on Friday night.” Creative director Andrew Madden said it had been difficult to gauge the number of people attending the festival from near and far but estimated a similar sized crowd as last year. “We sold around 3300 tickets this year across all activities with $6500 worth of tickets already sold for some of the festival’s events next year," he said. Mr Madden said the festival's community spirit had been replicated this year. “Everyone had a ball and I’ve been stopped by people in the street to thank us,” he said. “It was just a celebration but important conversations around the event emerge about well-being as it did last year too. “It was inclusive, diverse, fabulous, fun, safe, joyous and love was in the town.” Mr Madden said there had been a great family vibe at Sunday’s fair with event-goers keen to have it included again next year. He said festival committee members and volunteers had worked tirelessly, the police presence had been welcomed and security staff went above and beyond their call of duty. Performer Vogue McQueen from Darwin said this year’s event had been her first one in Beechworth. “I travel around Australia to rural towns and perform at pride and queer events and drag events like the one held in Beechworth,” Vogue said. “I think it's really important for the queer people in regional towns to have events like this as it can be isolating for them living in rural areas in all parts of the country.” Vogue said the event was about inclusivity, love and acceptance. “It's okay to be whoever you want to be,” she said. Make-up artist for the performers, Cherry Poppins, said as a farmer and makeup artist coming from the country there had never been a lot of LGBTIQ+ involvement in the community. “There’s been an absolutely phenomenal turn of events and we can actually show people that there's nothing to be scared about.” As a not-for-profit event with funds raised to cover the running costs, Mr Madden said $2500 has been donated to volunteer-led charity LINE in Wangaratta to support their work. Mr Madden said an inclusive flag will be used as the colour scheme for next year’s festival. This year’s event encompassed the rainbow ball held on Saturday night in the Town Hall where close to 100 people attended. Drag’d Out performers travelled from Australian states except Tasmania and Queensland.

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