Calgary artists pivot toward performance on your lawn for Mother's Day

Drag queens deliver their goods With their gigs cancelled due to the pandemic, a group of Calgary drag queens are taking their show to the front yards of Calgarians.

Calgary — Despite the gradual reopening of the Alberta economy, members of the arts community are struggling to find creative outlets, and income, to make ends meet.

Not so for HireHeelsYYC.

In celebration of Mother’s Day, the group of drag queen performers is bringing the show to their customers. Right to their front lawns, in fact.

“When COVID hit, we had a great idea from a friend to perform for her mom for Mother’s Day, and we thought: wow, maybe we could make money doing this,” said Erik Mikkelsen, owner of HireHeelsYYC.

“We’re going to make a stage: whether it’s a sidewalk, driveway, or the middle of the street. We’re going to make it work, we’re going to have some fun,” said Mikkelsen.

After a brief social media campaign, the group received an overwhelming response.

“We saw the opportunity, posted it on Tuesday, and by Wednesday afternoon were fully booked for the weekend,” said Mikkelsen.

Fully booked translates into 75 houses across Calgary through Saturday and Sunday, at $60 a performance.

Mikkelsen noted the group had to hire two additional drag queen crews to meet the staggering demand.

Those curiously gazing out their windows can expect to see at least three performers rattle off eight minutes of song and dance. A portable stereo will be on hand to be sure the neighbourhood can hear the festivities.

The drag queen crews will be practicing social distancing protocols as they perform.

“Hopefully none of the neighbours are sleeping,” said Mikkelsen. “Actually, hopefully they are; we wake them up, they see us perform our set celebrating our moms, and interact with families,” he added.

“Everything has been so serious lately so we want to bring some fun out of people, make them laugh ... as long as you’re following social distancing guidelines and want to have a little fun, why not? Let’s do it.”

Although Mother’s Day is fully booked, Mikkelsen noted the group is open to celebration-themed performances in the future, such as on Canada Day.

HireHeelsYYC has a Facebook forum at: https://m.facebook.com/HireHeelsYYC