{"id":225123,"date":"2026-05-08T21:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/225123\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T21:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:39:10","slug":"miss-island-queen-amateur-drag-contest-raises-214k-for-local-shelter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/225123\/","title":{"rendered":"MISS ISLAND QUEEN AMATEUR DRAG CONTEST RAISES $214K FOR LOCAL SHELTER"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Miss Island Queen contestant Scottie Jahn, aka Auna Bender, performs at the final fundraising extravaganza on May 4 at Key West Theater. LARRY BLACKBURN\/Keys Weekly <\/p>\n

The Miss Island Queen pageant has raised nearly $600,000 in the five years since Key West business owner Kirby Myers dreamed it up as a fundraiser for Samuel\u2019s House, a local shelter for women and children in need.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s event, a four-week fundraising campaign by amateur drag queens paired with professionals as their coaches, brought in $214,000 and culminated May 5 with the crowning of Scottie Jahn, aka Auna Bender, as Miss Island Queen 2026.<\/p>\n

The final fundraising extravaganza at Key West Theater has become a can\u2019t-miss event in Key West, where supporters throw thousands of dollars onto the stage during a variety of hilarious performances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a truly amazing night for the 5th annual Miss Island Queen,\u201d Myers wrote on Facebook after the event. \u201cCongrats to all of these amazing queens, and thank you to our sponsors, contestants and anyone who donated and helped us raise funds for the incredible organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiss Island Queen was founded for the sole purpose of raising funds for Samuel\u2019s House, a local shelter for women and children in need. Community members campaign over the course of four weeks, hosting events to raise money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"And the winner is \u2026 Scottie Jahn, aka Auna Bender, is crowned Miss Island Queen 2026 after raising $99,000 in four weeks for Samuel\u2019s House women\u2019s shelter. LARRY BLACKBURN\/Keys Weekly <\/p>\n

This year\u2019s teams of contestants and coaches were:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scottie Jahn, aka Auna Bender, and coach QMitch. Mark Huffman, aka Ida Ho, and coach Maya Montana.\u00a0 Justin Harris, aka Trixie Dixie, and coach Beatrix Dixie. Becky Damian, aka \u201cManny Mansplain,\u201d and coach Erin McKenna, aka Hugh Janus, who won as Hugh in Miss Island Queen\u2019s first year. Nick Mazza, aka Nicky Gaga, and coach Jessica Deveraux. Success! Please check your email for confirmation. \"Mandy<\/a><\/p>\n

Mandy Miles drops stuff, breaks things and falls down more than any adult should. An award-winning writer, reporter and columnist, she’s been stringing words together in Key West since 1998. “Local news is crucial,” she says. “It informs and connects a community. It prompts conversation. It gets people involved, holds people accountable. The Keys Weekly takes its responsibility seriously. Our owners are raising families in Key West & Marathon. Our writers live in the communities we cover – Key West, Marathon & the Upper Keys. We respect our readers. We question our leaders. We believe in the Florida Keys community. And we like to have a good time.” Mandy’s married to a saintly \u2014 and handy \u2014 fishing captain, and can’t imagine living anywhere else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miss Island Queen contestant Scottie Jahn, aka Auna Bender, performs at the final fundraising extravaganza on May 4…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-225123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}