Have you ever considered waiting 45 minutes in a line to get into a bar so long it’s wrapped around the building into the alley? Me neither – until I heard of Slayground.
Run by four 20-something drag creatives, ‘Slayground’ is a recurring queer dance party with strict themes and “looks demanded.” Show up on time or wait in line: Slayground brought exclusivity back to the club scene by throwing a party everyone is dying to be at in the city’s smallest gay bar.
Creative directors Yufie (they/them) and Posie (they/them) and hosts Shaula Garcia (she/her) and Entity (they/them) are the minds behind the magic: “We do it for the clout and fame of course!” Yufie joked. “Seriously, we want to bring young queer people together in a place that is not only safe for them to express themselves – but plays actually good music.”
Yufie and Posie founded Slayground in January 2023 with their ideal night in mind: large-scale drag, dancing and extravagance in a queer-friendly and comfortable space. Wisconsin’s oldest gay bar, This is it!, is known for strong drinks and cozy, carpet-lined walls, making it an obvious venue choice for the group.
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Slayground as a concept is inspired heavily by the ‘club kids’ aesthetic popularized by New York City dance club personalities in the late 1980s. The Club Kid ethos was fabulousness and experimentation with fashion and gender, which is exactly what the Slayground team wants to emulate.
“Slayground is about more than just a party where you can drink and dance,” said Entity, who joined the team a bit later and handles booking for the events. “It’s about expression of queer identity and safety in community.”
This June, the team had their busiest month yet with three major events hosted by This is it!, as well as guest appearances from the bar’s new owner, Trixie Mattell, as well as Amanda Lepore, a former NYC club kid and current performance icon.
Previous Slayground themes range from creepy to kitschy: “Ritual,” “Indie Sleeze,” “Life in Plastic,” and more.
In an East Side apartment shared by Yufie, Posie and Shaula, there is a ‘drag room’ for crafting, putting looks together, making decorations and drawing inspiration for future themes.
Since the Handkerchief Code of the 1970s, where queer people used colored handkerchiefs to signal to other queer people how they identified, the LGBTQ+ community has come a long way – and Slayground is part of that progress.
Being visibly queer in public – with the most remarkable hair, makeup and outfits some have ever seen – serves to move the needle beyond acceptance of queer bodies and identities to celebration. In this way, the contribution that Slayground makes to Milwaukee’s community is significant.
“I moved to Milwaukee from Florida about nine months ago,” said DJ Tori Drake. “One of my first experiences with the local queer scene was performing at Slayground, and being part of a space where you can embrace your true self is absolutely invaluable.”
In just over a year, Slayground has grown from Yufie’s basement to lines longer than any reasonable person would wait in, especially in costume. But party after party, people line up. And now, Slayground’s gaze is fixed on finding a new, larger venue and thinking up even more outlandish themes.
To stay in the loop and find out about upcoming events, follow @slayground.mke on Instagram.
