Once again this weekend, the Oaklash Festival is prancing back into Oakland with some of the best and edgiest drag performances in the Bay, and multiple events over three days.
"It’s a wild time to be organizing events of this scale for the trans and queer community in this country," says organizer Mama Celeste, who co-founded Oaklash in 2018 with Beatrix LaHaine. "Corporate sponsors don’t have DEI quotas to meet, security risks (and therefore expenses) are higher, government support has disappeared entirely — and yet the community keeps showing up in droves!"
This year's Oaklash Festival will be as drag-tastic and diverse as previous years, featuring a kickoff party with performances at the famous White Horse Inn on Friday, May 16, followed by the main event Oaklash Block Party in Old Oakland on Saturday featuring performers on two stages from 2 pm to 8 pm. That's all followed by an "after-kiki" at Fluid 510 (1544 Broadway) Saturday night, and a Sunday afternoon Panther Skate Plaza Kickback at Defremery Park.
Friday's kickoff is dubbed ApocaLipstick, and there's a $20 suggested donation at the door. ($50 weekend passes are available here.) The party at the White Horse will feature DJs Sucia and NOSILENCE, and drag performances starting at 9 pm — including, at 11 pm, a preview of Oaklash's upcoming residency show "The Last 7 Days of OBSIDIENNE OBSURD."
Midnight performances will feature Miss Bea Haven & Poppa Bubbles, Los Angeles queen ViVi S Fierce, and Piss E Sissy.
Saturday's all-day block party will feature over 60 artists on two stages, and the full lineup is here. This year's headliner is Rupaul's Drag Race Season 11 winner Yvie Oddly, who has performed in the Bay multiple times since her launch into TV drag stardom.
The event also features seven DJs and 40 food and art vendors — and it's basically what SF Pride's Civic Center celebration always should have been but never is.
"It’s not just joy for the sake of disassociating and coming together and forgetting about everything that’s happening in the world," says Mama Celeste, speaking earlier this week to the Chronicle. "A big part of why we did this in Oakland to begin with is Oakland has always had that vibe where the community doesn’t mess around out here."
This will be the fourth consecutive year for Oaklash, following a pandemic hiatus and the first couple of years getting off the ground. And for two years Oaklash has functioned as a year-round arts organization, with various programs including a July cabaret called "Oaklash's Obsurdities," coming to the Chan National Queer Arts Center at 170 Valencia Street in SF — home of the Gay Men's Chorus.
The organization now also has an artist-in-residency program, which this year features drag artist and violist OBSIDIENNE OBSURD. She will performing the aforementioned residency concert performance, "The Last 7 Days of OBSIDIENNE OBSURD," in December, with original compositions by Paul Wiancko of The Kronos Quartet.
"The urgency for this work feels very palpable right now, and we are very grateful to have this platform to bring people together in safe, fun, and accessible ways," says Mama Celeste (no relation to the frozen pizza).
Find more info about Oaklash here.
Photo by Fred Rowe
