PRIDE Month! Tours and Events!

EventsTours
Written By Kolby LaBree

June is Pride month and we’re celebrating with some new BellingQUEERstory Tours

BELLINGHAM QUEER HISTORY TOURS

Logo for BellingQueerStory Tours Rainbow background, circle frame of torso in yellow corset with rainbow bandana.

Explore Bellingham’s Queer History with a walking tour around downtown. From early 20th century vaudeville “impersonators” to the first “pride” events we’ll share the stories from the LGBTQ+ archives that have shaped the city we know today. 

21+ tickets include drink specials and a performance by Bellebrity Drag Queen Betty Desire at the end of the tour at the iconic Rumor’s Cabaret. 

Under 21 welcome for the main tour.

Sundays 4-6 pm starting June 11, leading up to Bellingham Pride

$20/person proceeds to Bellingham Pride sponsorship fund. (No one turned away for lack of funds, shoot us a message)

Other events

There is a lot going on for Pride Month we recommend checking out this list of events provided by the Bellingham Queer Collective - and/or giving them a follow as individual events may also be posted there (here’s their insta)

Good Time Guides at Bellingham Pride festival 2022 in corsets and old timey undergarments each accessorized and holding a parasol for a different color of the rainbow

Good Times at Pride 2022

Related
Percy Irvine Yarick
Percy Irvine Yarick

Percy teamed up with another female impersonator who went by Lou Lalonda. Percy and Lou were billed at Bellingham’s Grand Theater on Holly Street in September of 1905. At the time of their performance in Bellingham, papers described them as “two pretty young ladies who easily win applause.”

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Julian Eltinge: The Original Drag Superstar
Julian Eltinge: The Original Drag Superstar

In 1913 the Bellingham Herald announced: “Theater-goers have a treat in store next week when Julian Eltinge is scheduled to play at the Metropolitan Theater in his musical success, ‘The Fascinating Widow.’” Often compared today to RuPaul of “Drag Race” fame, Julian Eltinge was the most famous female impersonator to grace Bellingham’s stages in the early 1900s. 

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Huntress
Huntress

At the turn of the 20th century, a boy from small town Iowa chose the stage name “Huntress” and followed his dreams, using his many artistic skills to find success. Imagine Huntress rolling on a sparkling snowball across the vaudeville stage of the Grand Theatre in Bellingham in 1905.

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History Repeats: The Criminalization of Gender Nonconformity
History Repeats: The Criminalization of Gender Nonconformity

Last fall when I started thinking of ideas for columns for the Betty Pages, I was excited to write interesting stories about early drag performers here in our corner of the world. However writing about these stories has taken on a weightier context as a wave of anti-drag hysteria has escalated across the country, and bills designed to restrict and prohibit drag performances work their way through state legislatures.

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The Great Richards: Bringing the Bling 1905
The Great Richards: Bringing the Bling 1905

In June of 1905 Beck’s Theatre in Bellingham advertised a magnificent vaudeville bill for the summer that included “The Great Richards and his $5000 diamond dress.”

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Vardaman: The Gay Deceiver
Vardaman: The Gay Deceiver

I had previously run across Vardaman in the Bellingham Herald on a vaudeville bill from the summer of 1904, advertising “the Auburn-Haired Beauty.” Further described in the paper as “the celebrated Vardman (sic) the female impersonator… can hardly be told from a female, so clever is he.”

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Mr. Noel Wore a Dress and Welcomed the Guests
Mr. Noel Wore a Dress and Welcomed the Guests

The marker was a small reminder that issues of gender identity are not new and that drag shows existed here in Bellingham at the turn of the previous century. The marker has been lost, and the historical record of Joseph Noel’s life is sparse. We can keep telling what we know of his story: Mr. Noel wore a dress and welcomed the guests.

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Kolby LaBree https://bellinghistory.com
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