Local drag performers will host a benefit show aiming to educate voters three days before Kansas’ primary election.
Hosted by local drag performers Vantas and Marie Queerie, the Vote No Drag Show and Benefit will have tabling, community outreach and performances aimed at educating local voters on the upcoming vote for a proposed change to how Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected.
“With the election so close to the show, our hope is to give that final push to tip things over the edge,” Queerie said. “We want to make sure everyone knows this election is happening and why it is so important to go out and vote.”
The event is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 1 at Ecumenical Campus Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave. Organizations will table starting at 8 p.m. and a drag performance will follow at 9 p.m.
The event is for folks ages 18 and up, has a $5 cover and will have free food. A portion of the proceeds will go to Food Not Bombs.
Organizations tabling include the Sanctuary Alliance, Douglas County Democrats, League of Women Voters and Kansas United.
Queerie said the drag performances will be political and may get emotionally raw.
“We are embracing drag as protest,” Queerie said. “We are using our art to fight back against the attacks against our community by refusing to be silent.”
Other performers for the event include Zoey Xenon, Riccochet Ravenna, Cryptits, Public Enema No. 1, Jaelaray, Xotika Campbell and DJ Tillie Walkin.
Queerie has participated in election-related performances previously, including the first Vote “No” drag show hosted by Ema Eagle at the Replay in 2022. Vantas previously hosted and Queerie performed at the Pride is a Riot “Electoral Dysfunction” 2024 Presidential Election Night drag show.
All registered Kansas voters can cast ballots in the Aug. 4 primary election. Find The Lawrence Times voter guide at this link.
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Maya Smith (she/her), reporting intern, has worked with The Lawrence Times since February 2026. She was born and raised in Lawrence and is a journalism student at the University of Kansas. She works at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications as a communications assistant and has been a freelance reporter for the Kansas Reflector since 2024. Read her work for the Times at this link.
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