{"id":364490,"date":"2026-10-05T01:12:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T01:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/364490\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T01:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T01:12:26","slug":"beloved-brooklyn-drag-festival-bushwig-celebrates-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/364490\/","title":{"rendered":"Beloved Brooklyn Drag Festival Bushwig Celebrates 15 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHappy Bushwig<\/a>!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Such is the greeting at the annual Brooklyn drag festival, which this year celebrated its 15th anniversary. From 5pm to early the next morning, there would be a marathon of drag artistry at 3 Dollar Bill, all with the festival\u2019s signature Bushwig edge. Formed in the spirit of punk and DIY, many of the performers embody the same ethos, bringing an unending creativity to their own interpretations of what drag is and can be.<\/p>\n

Bushwig was originally founded in 2011 by drag artist and DJ Horrorchata along with Babes Trust, who has since passed away. It was inspired by Lady Bunny\u2019s Wigstock, but with its own Brooklyn twist. What started as an event at a DIY venue has since expanded nationally and internationally, with different Bushwig events everywhere from Miami to Austin to Mexico City to Berlin over the years. Horrorchata feels fondly about this year\u2019s anniversary in particular. \u201cThe number 15 holds a special meaning for me as a Mexican, since it\u2019s the age we celebrate a quincea\u00f1era, so that felt really iconic,\u201d Horrorchata said. \u201cIt was such a special and surreal way to celebrate 15 years of Bushwig.\u201d Horrorchata herself made a grand entrance in a full quincea\u00f1era dress, a gold and white confection of a ballgown, performing to Deftones\u2019 \u201cBe Quiet and Drive (Far Away).\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Horrorchata<\/p>\n

What\u2019s special about Bushwig, too, is that the focus is on artists making waves in their own cities, whether in Brooklyn, San Antonio, Atlanta, or elsewhere, though there are also appearances by artists from RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race, King of Drag, and Dragula. Mariyea, a performer who also joined the Bushwig team as Talent Curator this year, went to her first Bushwig in 2023 and found the proliferation of hometown drag artists especially moving. \u201cI remember being so in awe of seeing local drag celebrated at that scale. It was one thing to see drag on TV, it was so much more special to me to witness my local drag community highlighted in a huge festival format,\u201d she said. \u201cNow Bushwig feels like the annual family reunion\u2026where nearly every corner of nightlife in NYC is gathered together at one place and time. It\u2019s one of my absolute favorite times of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bushwig is Essa Noche performing a Spanish rendition of \u201cRose\u2019s Turn\u201d from the musical Gypsy. It\u2019s Sweaty Eddie performing \u201cWhen It\u2019s Over\u201d by Sugar Ray with puppet arms that continually extend across the stage. It\u2019s Groovy Bluez pirouetting in stilettos, Slagatha taking us back to the early 2000s with a full Fergie megamix, and on and on. It\u2019s six hours of DJs curated by the goddess Charlene Incarnate in the sister venue, 9 Bob Note, next door. This year, I even witnessed someone in the crowd with the word \u201cDRAG\u201d tattooed on their arm, accented by a yellow flower. It feels like the kind of place people keep showing up to because they keep finding a place for themselves. This is not to mention, of course, the magic of offering drag artists of all stripes\u2014from the fashion-forward to the avant-garde to the spooky to the silly and more\u2014a place to express themselves.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mariyea<\/p>\n

Year after year, people fill whatever space the festival takes up, and the reaction from the crowd is always the same. They are so happy. There\u2019s cheering, money strewn across the stage, rapt attention to each performance. And people came out this year despite the looming Nor\u2019easter that slammed the tri-state area with rain. Though performances were originally scheduled outdoors, the show went on, as it always must, only this time inside. For Horrorchata, the experience was not unlike the first few years of the festival. \u201cThere was something about the energy, the feeling, and the overall vibe that really brought me back to those early Bushwig years,\u201d she said. \u201cIt felt punk, spontaneous, and full of heart, the kind of Bushwig where, no matter what was happening around us, everyone just came together and made it work. And honestly, that feeling was really special to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putting on an event like this isn\u2019t easy. It takes about 10 months to plan and put everything together, but for the Bushwig team, it\u2019s always worth it. \u201cI think what drives me even more is knowing that I\u2019m doing this for the people and for the community,\u201d Horrorchata said. \u201cI also carry the memory of Babes Trust, who we lost about three years ago, with me. Losing her was incredibly hard, and I think a part of me wants to keep building, creating, and bringing people together in her honor. She is still very much a part of the Bushwig family and its story, and that keeps me going even when things get difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Sweaty Eddie <\/p>\n

In a moment in American culture that\u2019s distinctly challenging for LGBTQIA+ individuals, an event like Bushwig, so consistently making space for joy, becomes essential. \u201cBushwig reaching this milestone, especially in a time of legislative upheaval, is no small feat,\u201d Mariyea said. \u201c[It is] a slap in the face to a government that actively seeks to prohibit the LGBTQIA+ community from gathering in love and joy. There will never be a time where we as a community are ashamed to exist\u2026The ability to gather as a community will always be the biggest middle finger to any person, legislation or structure, that is attempting to dismantle the rights of LGBTQIA+ people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bushwig began in part because the founders wanted to create space for a kind of performance they wanted to see and be a part of. In the process, they found their people onstage and off, creating opportunities for others to do the same. \u201cIt felt incredibly special and reminded me just how much love and community this festival has built over the years,\u201d Horrorchata said. \u201cWith so much uncertainty and sadness happening in the world, I\u2019m grateful to be able to help create a space where people can come together, feel safe, celebrate themselves, and experience joy for a weekend.\u201d To hold something like this together for 15 years is its own kind of magic.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rayne <\/p>\n

\"\"Reina No Buena <\/p>\n

\"\"Myster E Mel Kiki<\/p>\n

\"\"A drag fan in the crowd<\/p>\n

\"\"Julie J <\/p>\n

\"\"Ivy Fischer<\/p>\n

\"\"Luxx Noir London<\/p>\n

\"\"Janelle No. 5 and Beaujangless<\/p>\n

\"\"Athena<\/p>\n

\"\"Bobby Lemaire<\/p>\n

\"\"Dev Doee<\/p>\n

\"\"Daniella Darling<\/p>\n

\"\"Edgar Rider Better<\/p>\n

\"\"Luxury Bones<\/p>\n

\"\"Lydia B. Kollins<\/p>\n

\"\"Catalina<\/p>\n

\"\"Miss Woman the Woman<\/p>\n

\"\"Mistress Baby Ray<\/p>\n

\"\"Groovy Bluez<\/p>\n

\"\"Smash the King<\/p>\n

\"\"Blue and Rayne<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHappy Bushwig!\u201d\u00a0 Such is the greeting at the annual Brooklyn drag festival, which this year celebrated its 15th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-364490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364490","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=364490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}