Cape Town’s longest-running drag beauty pageant is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a bang.
Directors of Miss Gay Western Cape, Mark Donough and Barry Reid, say the project has seen the birth of many stars.
Barry says: “What a journey, over the years the pageant has changed many lives, launched many a drag career and assisted in lifting the profile of the drag community.
“This year we will celebrate the 10 years with a few trips down memory lane.
“The theme is ‘Remembering the Decade’, and the finalists will have the opportunity to choose one of the themes from the previous years to showcase in the Theme Wear Section.”
The competition boasts 13 finalists and on 3 November will battle it out at the Joseph Stone Auditorium in Athlone.
Barry says the finalists hail from Mitchells Plain, Atlantis, Elsies River and Knysna among others.
Some Miss Gay Western Cape queens have gone on to achieve greatness and became household names, like Enigma von Hamburg who became Miss Drag SA and launched her own successful pageant, Mr and Miss Matric Super Model.
While drag diva Kat Gilardi who hosts the annual Diva’s One Night Only show.
Mark says: “Drag is the face of the LGBTI community as well as an art form that is widely recognised and it’s supported throughout the Western Cape and South Africa.”
The pageant’s first queen, Enigma Von Hamburg, says the competition has evolved over the years.
VISION: Enigma von Hamburg, seated, with Mark Donough and Barry Reid, among others
“What started out as a competition to highlight beauty is now more than just that, where the focus has shifted to finding a role model that has the willingness to make a difference,” she says.
“Miss Gay Western Cape has contributed to my life tremendously since my crowning in 2009.
“I have kickstarted so many humanitarian works, which is a great passion of mine.
“I’ve created a brand, #EvHEmpire, with the main focus on community upliftment and empowerment.”
The 2010 queen Kat Gilardi says the pageant not only gave people like her the courage to be who they really are but is also an amazing support network.
“My dad passed away two weeks before the MGWC pageant, I was broken and so I opted to not continue, but my family said my dad would have wanted me to pursue the title of MGWC and so I did.
“The finalists that year offered me so much love and support, attending the funeral and just helping out wherever they could.
“They became my family and the relationships have lasted to this day,” she says.