The Union Square Holiday Ice Rink is lacing ‘em up for the 13th annual Drag Queens on Ice Thursday night, as Donna Sachet and seven dazzling drag queens put on their slay bells for the family-friendly show.

‘Yule’ maybe have already noticed that the Union Square Holiday Ice Rink is back, in fact, it’s already been there for nearly a month. It’s $20 for a 60-minute skate session ($15 for kids under 8), and skate rental is included in that cost. Additional holiday razzle-dazzle is applied for weekly events like the Frozen-themed Let It Go Wednesdays (5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.)  and the totally tubular, 80s-themed Flashback Fridays on the second Friday of every month (7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.), all of it continuing through the rink’s holiday run up until January 16, 2023.

But the annual holiday ice skating tradition San Francisco really wigs out for is Drag Queens on Ice, which returns for its 13th year on Thursday night, December 1, at 7 p.m., once again emceed by the incomparable Donna Sachet.  

Sachet also just happens to preview this year’s Drag Queens On Ice in the KRON4 interview above. “People expect, are they going to do the triple axels?” she tells KRON4. “Well, some of them are really good. One competed even in the Olympics years ago. There’s that level. And also, there’s some that come out and [shrugs uncomfortably], they stand there. But they’re also lip-synching a song, so there’s a lot to think about.”

“Every year they try to do a little something different,” she adds. “This year, we have a couple surprises I’m not supposed to tell anyone about.”

We do at least know the performer lineup: According to the SF Standard, “Donna Sachet returns to host as the Mistress of Ceremonies alongside Dusty Porn, Jota Mercury, Khmera Rouge, Mahlae Balenciaga, Princess Poppy, Tara Lipsyncki — and Jubilee.”

And Jubilee herself does tease some degree of sneak preview of her gingerbread costume and routine in the KPIX interview above. "For it to suddenly become necessary for me to ice skate to be in a drag show, is actually very normal, in terms of drag, suddenly needing you to learn something brand new," says Jubilee, a.k.a Joe Wadlington.

Obviously in the wake of the Club Q shooting, and a larger national right-wing smear campaign against drag queens, there are some coping mechanisms required for Wednesday night’s performers.

"Just keep going and stay the same, it all comes from hate," Wadlington tells KPIX. "And the only way to do that is to meet people and be out to do those classic things, talk to your neighbors, ask questions, give people grace and room. And we are not the only people being targeted. So it is something that quite a few people can feel that they have a place in."

“It is family-friendly,” Sachet insists to KRON4. “Kids generally love drag because it’s bigger than life, it’s like, you might say clowns or actresses or something. I’m amazed how many people come from all walks of life, parents come with their kids.”

“There’s laughter involved, there’s a message involved, we do fundraising,” she adds. “We’re kind of a leader in a lot of ways, just by the fact that we’re kind of colorful.”

Drag Queens On Ice is Thursday, December 1, 7 p.m. at Union Square, $40 skate reservations here, though it's also free to watch from the perimeter.

Related: Already?!? Union Square Macy’s Tree Was Quietly Lit Wednesday Night for the Holidays [SFist]

Image: @UnionSquareRink via Twitter