2015-02-11
By Contessa Inc. Productions
So as gay pop culture experts, we’ve all heard of Drag Queen Bingo, am I right!? Well Contessa Inc. Productions and Drag Queen Bingo Events have brought it to Halifax in a FABULOUS way!! Some of you may be familiar with Contessa and her latest claim to fame being on the hit reality TV show Big Brother Canada. She’s been doing drag for over 17 years having started her drag queen bingo act in Victoria BC many years ago. When she moved here to Halifax over 10 years ago and discovered no one was doing it, she made her move.
She tested the waters during the Halifax Pride Festival in 2012 by introducing it on a smaller scale to see how well it would go over. The 100 seat venue filled up quickly that night and many more had to be turned away. It was decided drag queen bingo had to be brought back but in a much bigger way. We teamed up with the Halifax Forum Super Bingo Hall as they had a fabulous glow in the dark bingo concept already in place. We just carried it over, drag queen style complete with some of Halifax’s best drag talent. The following summer, Pride 2013 saw it received in an amazing way. We had over 500 plus people turn out to play bingo and since then are now heading into our 5th run of this wildly popular event!
We do it in support of local charities like Laing House. How it works is instead of giving away the money brought in that night as prize winnings we scour the area for prize sponsors. We’ve had a tremendous out pouring of support from businesses who have donated some amazing prize items to be won at these events! In addition to this incredible support the event has garnered a ton of positive media publicity. Its made the cover of the Metro and Contessa has been a guest on the Global and CTV morning show to name just a few examples.
The events have gone over so well that we decided to bring it back twice a year, one in the winter and one in the summer. Friday, March 20th @ 9pm we’ll be doing it for our second winter in support of Laing House. Laing House is an organization that supports youth with Mental Illness and is charity very near and dear to Contessa’s heart. If you’re looking for an amazing night full of laughs then this even is not to be missed!
Editor's Note: Drag Queen Bingo has not been without controversy. The 2013 event, during Halifax Pride Week, was deemed by many in attendance to be exploiting offensive racial sterotypes. Complaints were lodged with Halifax Pride.
