Second Annual Pride Festival Draws Mixed Reviews

By Tara Blue

On Sunday, July 16, the Dandy Lion Café hosted the second annual Ashland Pride Festival at Ashland City Park. The event drew attendees from Ashland, Columbia, and surrounding areas who came to enjoy a day filled with live music, arts and crafts, food, pole dancing, vendor booths, and drag performances.

The festival was sponsored by Nclusion+, an organization based in Columbia and Kansas City that promotes LGBTQIA+ events, media, and education. According to Dandy Lion Café owner Caitlin Cunningham, more than 500 people attended.

As reported by the Columbia Missourian, Cunningham was invited by the City of Ashland to host the event in the city park. Her goal, she said, was to create a welcoming space for LGBTQIA+ residents in smaller towns like Ashland and Hartsburg to feel supported and included.

While many attendees celebrated the event, not everyone in the community was pleased. At the Ashland Board of Aldermen meeting on Tuesday, July 18, resident Kristen Colbert raised concerns about the event’s alignment with city regulations on adult entertainment.

Colbert stated that although she supports individuals’ rights to celebrate as they choose, she was disturbed by social media images and videos from the festival. These showed drag performers wearing minimal clothing, dancing on picnic tables, accepting tips from both adults and children, and performing with a “stripper pole” in the park. She argued that such behavior does not reflect community standards.

The Dandy Lion on Main Facebook, July 16, 2023 (Fair Use as referenced in board of aldermen meeting)

Citing Chapter 23 of the Ashland City Code, Colbert questioned why the Nclusion+ drag performances should not be classified as adult entertainment. The code prohibits adult entertainment establishments within 1,500 feet of a public park. She urged both the Board and the police department to enforce city codes and questioned whether similar performances could happen in local schools.

Nclusion+ had previously faced criticism earlier in the year when middle school students from Columbia Public Schools attended a diversity event that included a drag show.

According to city code, an “adult entertainment cabaret” is defined as an establishment where a regular and substantial portion of its business includes performances by strippers, male or female impersonators, or go-go dancers, or any entertainment that emphasizes “specified sexual activities” or “specified anatomical areas” (23.005, 2d).

Most events listed on the Nclusion+ website are for audiences aged 18 and over. The Journal reached out to the organization to clarify the difference between their family-friendly and adults-only events but has not received a response.

City code also defines adult entertainment as “any live exhibition, performance, display or dance… involving a person who is nude or in attire that exposes the human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, or female breasts below the areola.”

A mother and child offer a tip an Nclusion+ performer

Cunningham defended the performances, stating that the dancers took precautions to ensure their costumes met the dress requirements. She added that anyone concerned about minimal clothing might also object to attire seen at the local community pool. Cunningham also noted that the pole used was a “fitness pole.”

The City of Ashland has not issued a formal statement regarding the Pride Festival or the question of whether Nclusion+ should be classified as an adult entertainment business. However, in a letter issued last year when the Dandy Lion Café first opened, the city confirmed it does not consider the café an adult business.