Calgary Drag Show Featuring RuPaul Sets World Record
The annual "Drag Me to Cowboys" event drew 7,423 people, setting a Guinness World Record amid rising anti-drag hostility in Alberta.
A drag show at Calgary’s annual Cowboys Music Festival has officially set a world record, drawing 7,423 people on July 11 for the largest attendance at a drag artist stage show.
RuPaul headlined the event, dubbed “Drag Me to Cowboys,” with a DJ set at Cowboys Park. Other Drag Race stars performed for the crowd, including winners Sasha Velour and Sasha Colby, alumni Roxxxy Andrews and Coco Montrese, and several Canadian drag artists.
Following the performances and an official head count, festival organizers announced from the stage that Guinness World Records had verified the new record. RuPaul then lip-synced to Queen’s “We Are the Champions” in celebration.
“Our goal with this record is to make this a title worth fighting for in the future, by expanding the size and impact of drag performances worldwide and showing how active the community is,” organizers told Guinness World Records.
The annual “Drag Me to Cowboys” show has grown into one of the marquee events at the 11-day Cowboys Music Festival. This year’s show was hosted by Calgary drag artist Farrah Nuff, whose given name is Stephen West. The larger festival brings artists from around the world to Calgary and draws thousands of revelers.
Despite the show’s growing popularity, West says drag performers still face hostility, especially in one of Canada’s most conservative provinces. Just hours before this year’s show, he said, a ride-share driver abandoned three performers who were in full drag.
“Drag is political. It always has been political and it always will be political,” West told the Calgary Herald. “As soon as I put on my outfit, my hair is done and I walk out there, that’s a political statement. The political statement is: ‘I’m here, I’m queer, and you’re just going to have to deal with it.'”
Victoria Bucholtz, who performs as Karla Marx, told the Herald that the growth of “Drag Me to Cowboys” reflects increasing acceptance of drag and gender nonconformity, even as Alberta’s political leaders — like their counterparts in conservative U.S. states — have grown increasingly hostile to public expressions of LGBTQ identity.
“It shows that queerness is celebrated and welcome in Alberta,” Bucholtz said of the record turnout. “It shows that on the biggest stages and in the biggest celebrations in Canada and Alberta, that queerness is absolutely a vibrant part of our communities.”
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