Drags Benny combines drag queens and Sunday brunch at Winnipeg hotel

Sunday brunch took on a new gaiety at a Winnipeg hotel this weekend.

The city's first Drags Benny Sunday combined a three-course brunch with a drag show headlining Laila McQueen, who appeared in the eighth season of reality TV show RuPaul's Drag Race.

"We did it in Calgary before, and now we're doing it in Winnipeg, raising money for Pride in various cities and having a gay old time, very early on in the morning," McQueen said.

McQueen was joined by locals including Miss Club 200 Satina Loren, Cake and Lita Takeela and Calgary's Perla Coddington for the show at the event, which was put on by Calgary-based online magazine Eat North working with the Fairmont Winnipeg hotel. Some of the proceeds went to support Pride Winnipeg.

The brunches, unlike most drag shows, are family-friendly, all-ages events, said Dan Clapson, the creative director at Eat North.

"Going to a drag show, you can go late at night and it's a bit of a different vibe," he said.

Fairmont Chef Daniel Davyduke created the menu, Clapson said.

"All the courses are drag and Pride inspired," he said. "A lot of bright, bold flavours, a lot of colour, a lot of really, really fun food that people will really engage with on the plate and obviously on their taste buds."

Pride groups provide important support to their communities, McQueen said.

"We all face the same battles, more or less."

Pride Winnipeg will be from May 24 to June 2, 2019.