MACON, Ga. — Macon Pride starts on Saturday in downtown Macon. One event adds a bit of glamor to the celebrations.
The second annual Mx. Macon Pride Pageant will bring drag performers from across the state to Central Georgia.
"It gives the community an opportunity to be a part of something," Macon Pride Board member and pageant host Christina Leon said.
This year there are seven contestants who not only have the chance to win the crown but also win money and future performance bookings.
The event uses the honorific Mx., similar to Mr. or Miss, to denote that performers of any gender identity are welcome to perform.
This year's theme is Pride of the Future.
Contestants will bring performances and futuristic drag looks inspired by the different LGBTQ+ pride flags.
"We like to remove gender from any title so we don't do Mr. and Ms. we do Mx. which is a genderless title for a royal such as when you deal with people who are non-binary," Leon said. "I mean all performers are good. If you can bring your good drag and you can come and have a good time I don't really care if you're a boy, girl or a person in-between. I just want to see you do big things."
The event will also see the return of former winner Lawrence Carrasco also known as Mr. Elle Aye. He's been doing drag for five years and came to Macon from Atlanta to participate in Mx. Macon Pride last year.
He said winning was very cool for him because first met Leon and other members of Macon's drag troupe, The Tribe, the night of his drag debut in 2019. He said it was nice to have this win with people he's been working with for several years.
"The Tribe, the Leon Sisters, Christina, in general, they've created such a great space out there in middle Georgia and so to see something like that happening, especially when I started drag in a rural area in Athens, Ga., it was just kind of cool to see that on a different side, in like a different realm. So, it was nice to be able to come out there and experience what they have to offer," he said.
Since his win, he's been in over five different pageants and hosts an all-drag king show in Atlanta.
He says being in pageants can be nerve-wracking but it all increased his confidence in himself.
"To go through that experience last year with Mx. Macon and be able to know how confident I can be, especially in that kind of setting it was good, it was a nice experience. After each and every category I just felt more confident and so by the end of it, by the time I did have my Q and A I felt like 'You know what this is mine,'" Carrasco said.
He says when he's in drag he feels like his most authentic self.
"I'm a short man and so whenever I am in drag and I'm performing I feel like the biggest person on the planet and so that's just another thing. It just gives you a confidence in a way that you wouldn't expect," he said.
His advice to future contestants is to not overthink their performances and be confident in what they have to offer on the stage.
"It's not about what you bring but how you bring it," he said.
You can see Carrasco as Mr. Elle Aye and many other drag performers during the Mx. Macon Pride Pageant at JBA on Saturday at 7 p.m. You can get tickets on the events Eventbrite. You can find out more about Macon Pride and the other events in the 9-day celebration here.