Area Businesses Hosting Pride Month Events
Pizza, drag shows, tattoos and more on tap for Pride Month in June.
Rainbow flag at the 2019 Pride Parade. Photo taken June 10, 2019 by Jeramey Jannene.
Come Saturday, June 8, The Back Room at Colectivo will open its doors to a small crowd of clamoring fans. The subsequent performance, however, will be a departure from the usual musical act.
The event space, though now decommissioned as a concert venue, is preparing to host a group of children and their corresponding grown-ups for Drag Queen Story Hour.
Now a year-round tradition, though especially so during Pride Month, drag is indisputably tied to the birth of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The connection traces back to the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, in which drag queens such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera played a crucial role.
The upcoming event aims to celebrate that legacy while imparting themes of inclusivity and acceptance to younger audiences.
Drag Queen Story Hour will be held in The Back Room, 2211 N. Prospect Ave., at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. The event will feature a selection of kid-friendly, progressive books while promising a “positive and welcoming environment,” according to a flyer from the cafe.
The event is free to attend, and spectators are encouraged to bring a blanket to sit on.
Beyond story hour, the month of June is chock-full of pride-themed festivities for those who are part of — or in support of — the LGBTQ+ community.
The annual parade and festival are set for the second weekend of the month, while at least one new bar is aiming to open in tandem with the citywide celebration.
The following Milwaukee area businesses are also planning special events in honor of Pride Month 2024.
Amilinda
Gregory Leon, chef and owner at Amilinda, is an outspoken supporter of the LGBTQ+ community — and a member himself.
In honor of Pride Month, the James Beard-nominated chef is hosting a pride brunch on Sunday, June 9. The sold out event coincides with this year’s pride parade, inviting attendees to fill up on “brunchy food” and a cocktail or two before the festivities.
A portion of the day’s sales will be donated to Vivent Health, an organization that supports those living with HIV and advocates to prevent future cases.
Leon is preparing for a busy June. In addition to hosting his own pride celebration, the chef is slated to appear at several other events, including a cook-off, throughout the month.
Discourse
Discourse will host its customer base, the so-called Disco Fam, for a pride event at its downtown cafe on Saturday, June 1.
Disco’s Live Art Party will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 1020 N. Broadway, featuring live music, drinks and flash tattoos from LGBTQ+ artists including Keelie Murphy-Besaw, Lennox Lange and Vincent Geenen.
Attendees will also get a first taste of several new cocktails from Discourse’s sister brand, Agency, which offers both traditional and non-alcoholic beverages.
The June 1 event is just the start of a summer-long pride celebration at Discourse. Throughout June and July, the cafe plans to host a series of events with the intent to “raise awareness and bolster support for queer creators in Milwaukee and its surrounding communities,” the business shared in an online post.
Destiny Devooght, general manager of Discourse at Radio Milwaukee, is leading the charge in organizing the Live Art Party as well as upcoming events in the series.
Future updates will be posted to the Discourse Instagram page.
Everyone’s Table/Flour Girl & Flame
Everyone’s Table is living up to its name this Pride Month. The private event space, operated by Dana Spandet of Flour Girl & Flame, will be available to rent, free of charge, for queer-led groups throughout the month of June.
The West Allis building, 8125 W. National Ave., is seasonally home to Everyone’s Ice Cream, a scoop shop and sibling to Flour Girl & Flame, which operates a full-service restaurant next door during the wintertime.
Guests are welcome to bring their own food and drinks to the event space, which can comfortably accommodate up to 40 people. The goal, said Spandet, is to see the space filled with love throughout Pride Month.
Those interested in renting the venue can reach out to Spandet at dana@flourgirlandflame.com and copy kristina@mussocreative.com.
The first weekend in June will also see the return of Flour Girl & Flame’s Ain’t No Drag pop-up. The event, now in its second year, will take place on Sunday, June 2 at Railroad Station Park in West Allis.
Attendees can expect eats from Tots on the Street and Everyone’s Ice Cream, drinks from a volunteer-run bar with proceeds benefiting Out Families and plenty of entertainment by way of a bounce house, drag performances, drag queen story hour and tunes from DJ Livid.
Batter and Mac, a Menomonee Falls bakery, is also included in the festivities. Though originally slated to host its own Drag Queen Story Hour, the bakery said it was forced to cancel the event after receiving “threatening” and “violent” messages.
Instead, Batter and Mac will host a cupcake decorating workshop as part of the pop-up. The ticketed experience will take place from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., with proceeds benefiting Courage MKE, an organization that supports LGBTQ+ youth.
The pop-up is free to enter between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets are required between 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Batter and Mac
In addition to its partnership with Flour Girl & Flame, Batter and Mac plans to host a cooking competition modeled after Food Network’s “Chopped;” the popular TV show challenges contestants to create a dish on-the-fly using a collection of obscure ingredients that are unveiled at the beginning of each episode.
Batter and Mac’s version of the challenge will serve as a fundraiser for Courage MKE, while also providing a $500 cash prize to the winning chef.
The competition, set for June 20, will feature Jimmy Cababa, Leon of Amilinda and Spandet of Flour Girl & Flame as guest judges.
Those interested in participating can reach out to info@batterandmac.com.
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Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson were not “drag queens”. They preferred the term “transvestite” and would today be termed ‘trans women’. Both considered themselves women despite being AMAB. Drag queens generally dress as women for entertainment purposes but use a male identity off-stage. Rivera lived as a woman full-time. Johnson was a bit more variable but by the end of her life called herself a woman.
AndrewLarsen: Thanks for posting. I had to re-look up AMAB = Assigned Male At Birth, which I should have known!!
@AndrewLarsen – Both self-identified as drag queens during the referenced period of the Stonewall Rebellion.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/arts/transgender-monument-stonewall.html
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sylvia-rivera
Jeramey,
That’s actually not quite right. The term ‘drag queen’ isn’t documented until two years later. In ‘69, the term ‘drag’ was often used to refer to effeminate men, especially those who wore some women’s clothing. And Rivera and Johnson would both have used that term, but not ‘drag queen’.
And it’s important to recognize that they weren’t ‘drag queens’ in the way people use the term today. Johnson didn’t live to see the development of the modern term ‘trans’ (her murder in the 90s is still unsolved), but Rivera did, and used the term for herself.