Portland just hosted the world’s longest continuous drag performance, clocking in at 48 hours, 11 minutes, and 30 seconds.
Drag-a-Thon was held from Monday to Wednesday at the famed Darcelle XV Showplace nightclub, and it was certified as the longest by Guinness World Records. The previous record was 36 hours, 36 minutes, and 40 seconds, set six years ago in Melbourne, Australia.
The show featured;
- performances from 120 queens, kings & emcees
- more than 600 songs
- & 700 set changes!
Participants included such RuPaul’s Drag Race faves as Peppermint, Eureka O’Hara and Lala Ri among many others.
RuPaul sent a congratulatory video that played for the crowd saying,
This is spreading the love and the joy of drag throughout the world.
Oh, my goodness. Big kiss from Mama Ru.”
Emma McIlroy, producer of Drag-a-Thon, said in a press release,
This event has been a historic testament to the power of self-expression. I’ve produced a lot of shows over my career, but nothing like Drag-a-Thon.
We’re overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the Portland community — there’s no other city in the world where we could have pulled this off.
The only place that people are going to come out at 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. to watch a drag show is Portland.”
More than 2,500 people attended the performances over 3 days and nights.
Congressman Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat who represents a U.S. House district that includes Portland, issued a statement praising the record-setting performance,
Congratulations to Darcelle XV Showplace and every drag queen who participated to break the world record for the longest continuous drag performance.
It is only fitting Darcelle’s legendary showplace brings home this historic recognition. Despite hateful attempts to restrict or even ban drag performances across the country, in Portland drag is not going anywhere.
We are proud to celebrate this incredible performance art and the entire LGBTQ+ community today and every day.
Congratulations to all!”
Sorry, correction. It is ConDRAGulations! The event raised nearly $300,000 for The Trevor Project.
(via Advocate)
