When the owners of Kilted Mermaid realized no one was celebrating Pride on the Treasure Coast this year, they decided to organize an event at the last minute.
“It’s important to us,” said Linda Moore, who owns the Vero Beach craft beer and wine bar with her husband, Rick Norry. “It was upsetting when we realized nothing was happening.”
Their free Pride event on Sunday evening will include craft beer, wine, food, a DJ and performances on indoor and outdoor stages by four local drag queens: Shelita Taylor, Ripp Lee, Dominique Taylor and Citris.
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The event will also have a charity liquor shot tent in the alley next to Kilted Mermaid with Waldo’s “Voodoo Juice” buckets.
Sales benefit The Trevor Project, a national nonprofit that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) people younger than 25. It was founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award-winning short film “TREVOR.”
“Pride has become a fixture, like the Fourth of July or Christmas,” Moore said. “The gay community are members of our community. We’re all part of the same community.”
Pride commemorates Stonewall riots
Pride is celebrated in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York — a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement, according to the U.S. Library of Congress.
Gay Pride Day initially was celebrated on the last Sunday, but event dates became more flexible. In major cities, the day grew to encompass a monthlong series of events. Celebrations include parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts.
The Kilted Mermaid owners scheduled their Pride event for the last Sunday in June for another special reason. It’s the late Kelli Randell’s birthday.
Port St. Lucie resident Randall “Randy” David Kelly — widely known by his drag name, Kelli Randell — was one of the most recognizable and impactful members of the local LGBTQ community. Last year, he died unexpectedly the day after his 58th birthday.
For over 30 years, he performed across Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Brevard counties, as well as the state and nation. He was grand marshal of the Space Coast Pride Parade in 2018 and was a founding member of Pride of the Treasure Coast. He also hosted drag queen bingo at several local locations, including Kilted Mermaid.
The bar’s monthly drag queen bingo recently restarted after being halted in March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“For a while, we just thought of Kelli, and it was just too hard,” Moore said. “We couldn’t even think about it. It was just too soon.”
Pride 2021
Laurie K. Blandford is TCPalm’s entertainment reporter and columnist dedicated to finding the best things to do on the Treasure Coast. Follow her on Twitter at@TCPalmLaurie or Facebook atfaceboook.com/TCPalmLaurie.
