Dupont drag pageant broadens reach with 38th Halloween show

Dupont Social Club will hold the 38th Miss Adams Morgan pageant at the Washington Hilton in Dupont Circle, Ward 2, on Oct. 31, moving a longtime neighborhood drag tradition onto a larger stage.

For residents, the event links D.C. queer nightlife history with local fundraising: it drew up to 2,300 attendees before the pandemic, according to club president Brent Minor, after starting with about 50 people in 1989.

Minor, known in drag as Miss Adams Morgan 2008 Barbara Anne Bushwhacker, said the pageant long kept a low profile. “Until the last couple of years, we allowed no working media,” he said.

That approach has changed as the club tries to reach audiences beyond the bars and private networks that sustained it for decades. “In order to maintain the audience, we had to meet the audience where they were,” Minor said. “They were no longer just hanging around the [gay] bars.

They’re going to be online. They’re going to need social media presence … If somebody’s gonna tell our story, it needs to be us.”

The pageant’s roots go back to October 1988, when founder Steven Brandt, performing as Lady Dianna Spencer, was crowned by friends after dinner at Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse on 17th Street NW. By the second pageant in 1989, roughly 50 people crowded into a borrowed townhouse to watch.

Brandt said the club’s purpose sharpened after he and friends were accosted in Dupont Circle while in drag. “It was at that time at the bar where we were like, ‘No, we’re going to do this again and we’re going to do it in a place where we can be safe and people can have fun,’” he said.

The pageant has since moved through larger venues, including La Fonda, the Kennedy-Warren apartment building’s ballroom and now the Washington Hilton. This year’s contestants include Miss California Mae O’Naise, Miss North Dakota Margo Rita Swirlz and Miss Virginia Velma Kitty, with the evening built around the theme “Something Wicked This Way Comes.”

The reigning Miss Adams Morgan also selects a nonprofit to receive a portion of the night’s proceeds. Dupont Social Club says it has donated more than $500,000 to nonprofits, largely those serving queer and trans communities.

Joe Kuehne, whose drag persona Dawn Huggins was crowned Miss Adams Morgan last year, has expanded fundraising through monthly “Sloppy Saturday” drag shows at Her Diner. The shows include professional and amateur performers who donate tips to a designated charity.

Whitman-Walker Health is part of this year’s charitable focus. Amy Nelson, the organization’s senior director of legal services, said more than 3,000 people use its legal resources annually, including pro bono services related to HIV, employment discrimination, family matters and immigration.

The support comes after Whitman-Walker Health faced public funding cuts in 2025. Executive Director Ted Miller said about 40% of funding has been restored to some research programs, making community fundraising more useful for costs not covered by federal programs or other sources.

The pageant’s increased visibility also marks a cultural shift. Kuehne said earlier participants included people who could have risked employment if they were outed as drag performers. “It’s not as if everything is better for queer folks these days, but we are in a place where … if you’re going to be participating in this, you should be comfortable being somewhat public about it,” he said.

The Miss Adams Morgan pageant starts at 6 p.m. on Oct. 31 at the Washington Hilton, with tickets listed from $25 to $104.52 and a new titleholder to be crowned that night.