{"id":321831,"date":"2026-05-18T22:05:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T22:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/321831\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T22:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T22:05:19","slug":"the-best-looks-at-oaklash-oaklands-drag-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/321831\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Looks at Oaklash, Oakland\u2019s Drag Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past nine years, Oaklash<\/a> has grown from a humble, grassroots block party to a full-scale drag<\/a> festival \u2014 not to mention an arts incubator that has put on some truly mind-melting performances<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, May 16, hundreds of drag fans gathered in Old Oakland to watch dozens of performers on multiple stages. There were soul-stirring lip syncs, flawless fashion reveals, gravity-defying dance moves and lots of dollar bills flying through the air.<\/p>\n

Local drag queens, kings and genderless entities frolicked alongside artists who flew in from all over the country, including RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race star Aja, who headlined along with King of Drag\u2019s King Molasses. KQED roamed the streets, documenting the most creative looks we could find.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cThe inspiration was if Lil Uzi Vert was a highland cow,\u201d said Tokyn 666. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Tokyn 666 stands in the crowd during the Oaklash Block Party in Oakland on Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Luismi Munster poses for a portrait during the Oaklash Block Party. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"\u201cWhat inspired my look was very zebra, but also zebra with a fire, but it\u2019s still being fierce throughout the fire,\u201d Luismi Munster said. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Aja of \u2018RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u2019 performs during the Oaklash Block Party. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Bre\u2019nae Bullocks-Benard, 21, and Zachary Lipsett, 20, cheer as Aja performs. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"People cheer in the crowd while waiting for the next performer. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"People dance in the crowd during the Oaklash Block Party. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Aurris Gar\u00e7on takes tip money from the crowd as she performs her set. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Zachary Lipsett, 20, claps as drag quen Empress Astara does a flip during their performance. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Evian, aka Lashley, poses for a portrait during the Oaklash Block Party. Evian is one of Oaklash\u2019s artists in residence, and produced large-scale art installations for the festival. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Pei Pei Ma\u2019Bilz stands for a portrait during the Oaklash Block Party. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"\u201cI was going for business because Pei Pei, she means business but also she likes to clown,\u201d Pei Pei Ma\u2019Bilz said. \u201cShe just got plastic surgery, she\u2019s still recovering.\u201d (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Cake Bitch poses for a portrait during the Oaklash Block Party . (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"\u201cI recently made a troll porn with one of my best friends that\u2019s in a couple local film festivals,\u201d said Cake Bitch. \u201cI\u2019m a crazy troll collector. I have over 300 trolls and so does my bestie.\u201d (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Cake Bitch poses for a portrait. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Henlo Bullfrog at the Oaklash Block Party. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"\u201cThis was very much, like, \u2018corpse being reclaimed by nature,\u2019\u201d said Henlo Bullfrog. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Raya Light poses at the Oaklash Block Party. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"\u201cI\u2019m an all-American whore,\u201d Raya Light said. \u201cCan you say that on KQED?\u201d (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Jupiter poses for a portrait. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"Jupiter has been doing drag since 1976:\u00a0\u201cYou remember the ancestors and also do what\u2019s up and coming and beyond.\u201d (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"\u201cI very much enjoy sci-fi. I\u2019m very anti-AI, but I\u2019m a very pro\u2014body modification in the sense of supporting my trans family,\u201d Mylique E. Fawcett said. \u201cHumans have been into body mods since the beginning of time, it\u2019s nothing new. So I just wanted to show my support in a different way.\u201d (Juliana Yamada for KQED)
\n\"\"\u201cThis outfit was inspired by Rosal\u00eda at the BRIT Awards ceremony,\u201d said Mudd the Two Spirit. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the past nine years, Oaklash has grown from a humble, grassroots block party to a full-scale drag…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-321831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}