Three young drag performers are hosting a Christmas party in the small town of Bethel. They say they would rather do it in rural Vermont than in any big city. 

“I feel like it’s really important to show up and show that there are people here,” said drag queen Ima Hoar, known offstage as Elijah Reed. “I’ve heard so many people say that we’re all just hiding in the hills a little bit.” 

Ryder Faster, a 22-year old drag king also known as AJ Holbrook-Gates, said the trio, who all live in Bethel, want to bring drag to smaller communities to let people “who are under the radar” know that they’re seen.

The 18+ party is scheduled to take place Friday at the White Church. 

Ima Hoar has taken the lead on logistics, overseeing essentials like the sound system and venue setup. Reed is married to Adam Messier, who’s also performing in Friday’s show as Lavender Homicide. The pair’s drag journey began during the isolation of Covid-19, when they started performing at home and hosting karaoke nights. Their creative spark, born in private, has since grown into a dynamic partnership bringing drag to Vermont’s rural communities.

“We wanted to have a similar vibe to that, where it’s like a relaxed space where people can have fun and just do whatever kind of makeup you want and do whatever kind of songs you want,” Lavender said.

This Friday’s party will mark Ima Hoar’s second performance, where she’ll swap the glitz of traditional burlesque drag for her signature style: comedy. Her specialty? “Grandma drag,” a playful homage to her childhood memories, performed in a nightgown. 

“That kind of comes from when my grandmother had wigs growing up, and so I would always dress up as her essentially,” she said. “I would wear the wigs and put on both my sisters’ princess heels and walk around with a cane.” 

Ima described her drag queen persona as leaning heavily into comedy, embodying the awkwardness and playful allure of a “sexy grandma.”

As a nonbinary performer, Ima sees drag as an exploration of extremes, where gender becomes a playful exaggeration. “It feels very nice to do this polar opposite of this super gender thing, where you’re just dressing up as gender personified a little bit,” she said. “I definitely find it very healing in a gender way.” 

Lavender Homicide, 22, on the other hand, describes herself as an “80s hooker in a horror movie.”

Drag queen Ima Hoar in Bethel on Saturday, Dec. 7. Photo by Natalie Williams/VTDigger

“I’ve always loved the rock and roll and the punk aesthetic of it all,” she said, adding that seeing the women wearing fishnet tights and miniskirts with crazy hair was inspiring.

She chose the name Lavender Homicide not only because she likes the flower, but also because she tries to mix sweet names with scary ones. 

She also wears a lot of perfume, mainly the scent Champagne Toast, out of fear of smelling bad while performing. 

Lavender recalled being encouraged years ago to perform by Emoji Nightmare, a drag entertainer in Vermont whom she has known since she was 15. “She’s the big game in Vermont,” Lavender said. 

“She kind of was all the time, like, ‘Hey, when are you going to come perform?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m a teenager. I can’t do that,’” she said.

Lavender recalled struggling with finding her identity when she was young. While she wasn’t ready to perform as a teenager, she started at 15 with drag makeup and has been perfecting it for seven years now. “I love wearing dresses and heels and makeup, but I’m also fine with the body that I was born with and how I dress day to day,” she said. “And I went through a lot of inner turmoil with that.”

It wasn’t until Bethel Pride Fest 2023 — an event Lavender was helping run — that her mindset started to shift. She received a surprising message from another drag performer the following week asking if she wanted to be part of an upcoming show. Lavender’s response? “Absolutely.” 

Lavender’s former classmate at Randolph Union High School will also be taking the stage Friday night. 

Drag king Ryder Faster poses with a Christmas tree in Bethel on Saturday, Dec. 7. Photo by Natalie Williams/VTDigger

The Christmas party will be Ryder Faster’s second themed event, following a Halloween party where he missed a memo about the dress code. 

“It was supposed to be a spooky Halloween theme, and I dressed up as Donald Trump,” he said. “And then everybody else was wearing black dresses and such.”

Ryder’s drag persona draws inspiration from other performers, particularly fellow drag king Prince Muffin, who also plans to perform at the Christmas party. With his cowboy hat, chaps, and bold contouring, Ryder hopes his performances share the message of self-acceptance. 

“I hope to encourage people to love themselves for who they are,” he said. “Because I certainly didn’t do so for a while.”

The Christmas party is hosted together with Babes Bar, which will have a pop-up bar at the party. The collaboration blossomed out of an initial favor the owners of the bar, Jesse and Owen McCarter, did for Ima and Lavender in real life. They helped the couple buy a house.

“I’m super excited to support younger folks who move into town,” said Owen McCarter. He has seen them all perform and believes they all complement each other. 

“Ryder is the Western manly character. Lavender brings very fierce energy. She’s very bold and confident, and Ima, she’s hilarious and has a lot of jokes,” he said. 

Breaking barriers

In Bethel, these drag performers are carving out an inclusive space in a community that might initially seem an unlikely stage for their art, Ima said. The choice to settle in a rural town rather than a city like Burlington, known for its openness and established LGBTQ+ community, was practical and intentional. 

“We moved here last year, and Bethel has a very engaged community just all around,” Ima said. “It’s very supportive of just little projects everywhere.” 

With initiatives like the Juneteenth Celebration and Pride Fest, Ima and others are not only fostering connections but also challenging the perception that rural spaces lack inclusivity. 

For Lavender Homicide, drag is not just performance — it’s a statement of visibility and resilience in a time when mainstream attention has brought both celebration and backlash. 

Drag queen Lavender Homicide applies lashes in Bethel on Saturday, Dec. 7. Photo by Natalie Williams/VTDigger

“I think drag is very important nowadays. I think more than ever,” Lavender said, reflecting on how shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race have catapulted drag from the underground bar scene into the cultural spotlight. 

But with that visibility comes scrutiny. 

“With most things, because it’s mainstream now, people are upset about it,” she said. Lavender and her fellow performers are determined to counter narratives painting drag as harmful or inappropriate. 

“We’re trying to just push the community, especially with the whole ‘drag queens are dangerous to children’ narrative,” she said. “But we’re not, though.”

For Ima, bringing drag to small towns is about bridging distances — both literal and metaphorical. She said there are many drag performances in Burlington, but for many rural residents, attending these events involves lengthy drives, something not everyone can do regularly.

The goal, instead, is to create moments of joy closer to home — whether in Bethel or neighboring towns like Williamstown — where drag performers engage with local businesses, recognizing that these residents, too, exist in their own “bubble,” Ima said. Beyond convenience, there’s also a quiet defiance in this choice. 

“I feel like some of it is semi-passive resistance against just the idea that rural communities aren’t super accepting,” Ima said. “We’re not doing anything super political, but we’re just existing in a way that holds space.”

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show, which has a $15 admission fee, starts at 7 p.m.