The Upper Chesapeake Bay Pride Foundation (UCB Pride) has organized a festival in October every year, for the past 7 years. This festival has had a variety of local businesses, artisans, non-profits, and other groups like Mom Hugs show up for their daylong celebration of queer pride. Unlike most similar events, this festival is advertised as being family friendly, with sections of art and crafts, and musicians all targeted at children. Every year families bring their young ones to show them that it is okay to be themselves or to celebrate their own queerness as parents. Yet, continual scrutiny continues to berate events like these for their inclusion of drag and other “vulgarity” while encouraging children to be present. This begs some questions: should I bring my kid to this festival? And is it truly kid friendly, like the organizers say it is? Well, I decided to answer that question for those on the fence about bringing their young one’s next year. All by spending my October 4th surrounded by glitter, rainbows, and hundreds of bussling people. 

Before getting to my experience at the festival, first we must answer the question that people unfamiliar with the art have, what exactly is drag? Drag is an exaggeration of gender. Defined by heavy winged liner, long hair, curvy bodies, it takes femininity to the extreme. Well, for drag queens, for drag kings it is the opposite. Chiseled jaws, heavy drawn-on facial hair, and a muscular body are enhanced features. In all, it makes gender into a performance by looking in this exaggerated way combined with lip syncing to an audio. So why are people up in arms about drag, what’s in simple terms dress up? Many people mistake drag for burlesque. Burlesque also combines heavy femininity and lip syncing, but rather than staying clothed, they suggestively undress. People get these confused and come at drag for being an inherently sexual performance, when in reality drag is no more sexual than a dance squad. While drag CAN has sexual undertones due to the dancing, revealing outfits, or audio, it isn’t always, and it most often is not. It’s all about the occasion. Drag queens who are going to be reading to children are going to be fully clothed, in appropriate attire, and be ready to speak to young kids. I’ve seen queens that wear Ms. Frizzle attire, with a bright red updo and a fluffy skirt patterned with the material they will be reading.  It’s merely a fun costume for them to wear to engage kids in what they’re reading. Since those who oppose are very vocal, I wanted to give spotlight to people within CMW for their thoughts on drag reading hours.  According to CMW student Parker Jakubowski, “[drag is important for children to be exposed to] because it allows kids to see that any expression of themselves is okay no matter what. People should be able to present their identities however they want and drag is one of the strongest forms of self-expression in this time period.”  

Now that we understand what drag is, let’s get to the fun stuff. How was the festival? The food was fantastic. I had 410 Empanadas (It is a truck, I swear I didn’t eat 410 empanadas). They have so many options to choose from, but I choose the pickle and hamburger, buffalo chicken and Korean BBQ. They were pricey and it took forever to make, but it was well worth it. If those are not your thing, they had plenty of other options like hotdogs, gyros and classic desserts all in their respective trucks. And a church gave out cookies for free, which I enjoyed. I was given plenty of stickers, wristbands, pamphlets, and art supplies for free. In addition, I bought fancy soaps that smell like tea from Scuttlebutt soaps, and an awesome T-shirt. So, yeah, I had a lot of fun getting stuff from venders. Not only were the products awesome, but it was also a lively environment, and I had the privilege to meet so many cool people. Yet that’s not what matters; what everyone cares about is whether it’s really family friendly? And to answer that I say maybe??? I won’t even lie, occasionally I would get a whiff of weed, and some people showed up in T-shirts with suggestive sayings on them, but that was the worst thing about it. If you don’t feel comfortable bringing your kids to an environment like this, then this festival is not right for your family. But the drag acts mostly danced to cliche songs like “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga and everyone was clothed and dancing normally. The returning emcees Vagenesis and Venus Fastrada were super fun and also extremely on brand for a family friendly event (One dressed as a Monster High Character). Personally, my favorite performance was not even the drag acts, rather it was the pirates, who performed on stage B. They were funny, and I noticed a bunch of kids huddled around the stage jamming out to them. But don’t take my word for it, according to fellow student at CMW, Parker Jakubowski, “UCB was very fun to go to. There were lots of creative crafts and shops as well as resources for people struggling with mental or physical health. It was a great event that showcased how wonderful of a community we have in Upper Chesapeake and how supportive many people are.” Now we know it is an appropriate and fun environment, but is it safe? 100% yes. No protesters, no fights, cops, and emergency services blocked the road. And no one was so intoxicated that they were stumbling or causing a scene. I would say that overall, it was pretty family friendly and if you were thinking about going next year, you 100% should make the trip. Especially because it is totally free!