A small town’s LGBTQ+ bar was terrorized by a shooting threat. What happened next is beautiful.

After a threat of “shooting up” a local drag show, performers in the Colorado town of Steamboat Springs are organizing a drag show in both protest of the violence drag artists face, as well as in celebration of the community.

“Because of the threat that happened, we’re trying to make this a bit of a bigger show than normal. We’re trying to involve more of the community members. Ideally, we just want to say that yes, that threat happened and it was scary,” Madame Sassysquatch told LGBTQ Nation. He’s a Steamboat Springs drag queen who is leading organizing efforts for the event. Sassysquatch prefers to be referred to with his stage name. 

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“However, we’re here and we’re not going anywhere. We built this night and I feel like it’s an important thing. It’s a recurring night around here now and we’re here to stay.”

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The threat came from 28-year-old John Clark of Steamboat Springs, who was at a bar across the street from Schmiggity’s Live Music and Dance Bar. Clark was vocally making threats to shoot up Schmiggity due to the drag show, according to several witnesses. Eventually, he was seen outside of the bar, claiming to have a rifle at home, with his roommate trying to talk him out of going there.

He “admitted to making a comment about going to Schmiggity’s and making a scene [and] stated that he potentially made comments about going to Schmiggity’s and causing violence,” according to the arrest affidavit obtained by the Steamboat Pilot. Clark is facing a felony charge of inciting destruction of life or property and misdemeanor charges of harassment, bias-motivated crimes, and menacing.

The event, Fresh Drag Show, happens every third Wednesday. The threat has now motivated performers to put on a huge show on August 21 in protest of this senseless violence. It will feature Club Q drag artist Finnish Hymn Alnite, along with numerous amateur performers and community-staple drag artists. Club Q was an LGBTQ+ venue in Colorado Springs that was the site of a mass shooting in 2022 where five people were killed and 25 were injured.

“I think it’s just going to be a great show as far as us all coming together and solidarity. We’ve got a few different leaders from some nonprofits coming out. We’ve got a couple other nonprofits as well that are going to be involved as far as they’re going to be there doing voter registration and different stuff like that,” said Sassysquatch. “We’re just really trying to involve as much of the community and let’s show as we can in this show. Our show is also for our community. It’s not just for the LGBTQ community. Drag is for everyone.”

According to Chelsie Holmes of the nonprofit Queer Futures, which is helping to organize the event, the event will feature “local leaders doing drag for the first time ever just to show support.”

The event came about in part because of Qommittee, a drag performer organization. It started with local leaders in Steamboat Springs, including Sassysquatch, trying to organize a bigger event, and it eventually began to branch out after organizations like Qommittee and Queer Futures caught wind. Now, it’s projected to be their biggest show yet.

LGBTQ Nation first became aware of this event through Qommittee. The group’s aim is to “engage in a year-long organizing campaign from Pride 2024 to Pride 2025 to build as big and viable of a network of drag artists as we can who want to respond to hate, who want to make drag a better business for people across the country,” says community organizer Scott Simpson to LGBTQ Nation.

“One of the reasons we’re really happy to get the chance to work with the folks in Steamboat is that they really are walking the talk and they are really building community,” said Simpson. “They’re really sort of showing that this is supposed to be something that unifies people of all backgrounds, of all identities. And they really want to show that, and we’re proud to be part of it.”

Those participating in the show also hope that it can help the LGBTQ+ community in Steamboat Springs and Colorado evolve.

Queer Futures is a Yampa Valley, Colorado, organization with a rural base, often having to draw from the community to build up resources. “The plan is to expand out into even more isolated communities all around us with little satellite locations,” said Holmes.

Holmes also highlighted the way that the community is coming together—not just relying on big city organizations to do advocacy for them but instead coming together with other rural organizations to “speak for ourselves.” She also emphasizes the upcoming election and issues like removing a state constitutional ban on marriage equality and enshrining abortion rights. As Holmes says, “They’re coming together for those issues.”

Qommittee, meanwhile, plans to continue their mission of unifying drag performers across the country.

“So this is one thing that we’ve worked on, we’ve been responding to bomb threats and threats of violence just like this all over the country. We’ve seen threats in Alaska, in Texas, in Massachusetts, in New York, in Minnesota, in Arizona,” said Simpson. “This is happening across the country and what we are going to be doing and are doing is providing the basic resources so that people don’t feel alone when this happens to them and so that they can come out on the other side stronger. And that’s what’s happening in Steamboat.”

“The other side of this you’re going to see, the other side of this is from what they’re building is a stronger community built around drag that appreciates the contributions of everybody, including the LGBTQ community.”

As for Sassysquatch, he’s working on organizing more community events like this in the long term. “I’m personally working on creating an outdoor festival for this fall because of the threat and us trying to focus on this. I’m definitely working on creating more events next year as well.”

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