In pictures: Drag brunch at historic café makes space for queer joy

The Wildcat Café hosted drag brunch on Saturday, with queer joy on full display for a nearly sold out crowd.

Ady McLeod and Renee Saucier, co-organizers of the event, have been running drag brunches in Yellowknife since 2022 through an organization they started called the Department of Leisure. They said it’s important for them to create space for queer joy and create platforms for local drag performers outside of pride events.

Nearly 175 people attended brunch on Saturday between the morning and afternoon shows, with audiences spread across the inside of the café and its front and back patios.  

“It’s good to gather,” said Saucier. “It’s important to gather … make new friends, connect with people you know.”

All photos by Caelan Beard.

Drag brunch is also a nice way for people who are just starting to get involved with the queer community to come out.

“I think most of our spaces are oriented towards not just being performances spaces, but also social spaces, because having places to be in queer community is really important,” McLeod said. “I think that something as small as drag brunch can feel maybe less prohibitive to somebody who is just starting to explore what being in queer community means to them.”

Sometimes people may feel like they’re “not queer enough” to go to a pride event, McLeod said. Drag brunch creates a place for people of all ages, including families, to come out and enjoy the space.

“We want everyone to know that, if you feel like you want to be in this space, if you feel like you’re starting to explore your queerness … we want you here,” McLeod said.

Drag brunch also highlights queer artists in town and gives newer artists a stage. All four of the artists who performed on Saturday are local – two were raised in Yellowknife, and the other two currently live here. One of them was performing for the first time.

“This is their home queer community,” McLeod said. “There is something really special about performing for your hometown audience, as opposed to, you know, trying to break it big in the big city of people who don’t know you.”

Both McLeod and Saucier credited Wildcat Café’s current chef, Niki Mckenzie, for making space for them to host drag brunch.

“Niki has always prioritized making space for queer events and for queer artists, and really being able to use the place and platform that she has to host them,” McLeod said. “She definitely values being able to invite producers into the space who share those values of creating queer spaces.”

As far as they know, it’s the first time that drag has ever been held at the Wildcat, which first opened in 1937.

“If there’s been drag at the Wildcat in the past, we would love to know, because it would just be cool to get those stories,” Saucier said. Their event has been described as “the first drag brunch at the Wildcat … but it would almost be cooler if it wasn’t true.”