Mark your calendars. The weekend of May 16 will see the return of Oaklash, Oakland’s annual festival of queer and trans performance. The festivities will include parties at some of the city’s hottest nightspots, including the White Horse Bar, which has operated as a gay bar since 1933. It is said to be the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States.
The weekend will also include an all-day block party in historic Old Oakland which promises to offer all manner of fun and exciting drag performances. While the bar events are open only to people over the age of 21, the block party will welcome people of all ages.
According to Oakland based drag artist Mama Celeste, Oakland is the perfect locale for a festival like Oaklash because the city is where Bay Area culture is made. Celeste pointed out that so many performers who are known in San Francisco actually live in Oakland. Oaklash seeks to give these queer and trans artists a chance to work in their own backyard.
In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Mama Celeste spoke about what Oaklash will entail and whether or not the current anti-DEI backlash will have any effect on the weekend.
David-Elijah Nahmod: First, please tell me the meaning of the name Oaklash.
Mama Celeste: The name Oaklash is a reference to other city’s drag festivals like Bushwig and WigWood. We wanted a celebration like that here in the Bay Area so we copied them without permission and put our own Bay Area spin on it, but we’re glad to now be partnered with organizers all over the country putting on drag at this scale.
Please tell me if the current political climate has any effect on Oaklash.
Safety is our top priority at this year’s festival, but that’s nothing new. Trans and queer people have been the victims of extremist violence and hate crimes for as long as we’ve been throwing on our mother’s pearls and discount frocks. A festival like this is basically like running a small temporary city, and we’ve learned so much about how to create safe and accessible spaces for our community that the rest of the country should learn from us.
Does the end of DEI practices affect your corporate sponsorship or do you still have a lot of sponsors?
We’ve never relied heavily on corporate sponsors to produce our event. San Francisco Pride lost more money this year than we’ve ever needed to produce our block party. A lot of us have been asking for Pride celebrations across the country to decenter their corporate overlords for a long time and go back to their community roots, but that ship has sailed. It’s why something like Oaklash needs to exist. It’s the benefit of working in community and not being a huge institution like Pride is. We know we can rely on the people who show up to our events year after year to keep our organization afloat. Every dollar really truly does count.
Please tell me about your kickoff party at the White Horse Inn. Why is it called ApocaLipstick?
It’s time for a cultural reset. We’re living through the end of the world, and it’s time to start partying like it. We’re starting the festival off by ushering in a new era. ApocaLipstick is hosted by Piss E. Sissy, who is known for bringing fetish and drag together as one, and will feature a work in progress of our upcoming residency program The Last 7 Days of Obsidienne Obsurd, who is a drag artist and an experimental violist. Leave the kids at home for this one, it’s gonna get weird.
Please tell me about the Oaklash Block Party.
Performers come around from all around the country for our annual Block Party, which is truly the most fun anyone could have in a day. Old Oakland has so much food and culture that we don’t have to bring much to the neighborhood to show its vibrancy, but sixty trans and queer performers, forty local art vendors, five food and drink vendors, including our bar partners at the White Horse, and two stages of DJs, music and dancing, and drag certainly helps to make it a party not to forget.
Will you be performing at any time during Oaklash?
Hell no! I work so hard leading up to this event every year that I finally get the weekend off just to enjoy the party. I’ll turn a look or three of course, so you can come take a picture with me if you’re lucky. But my goal every year is to go have the time of my life while my team holds down the event. So don’t ask me any questions unless it’s, ‘Can I buy you a drink?’
The complete Oaklash schedule:
May 16, 8pm-2am, White Horse Inn, 6551 Telegraph Ave. ApocaLipstick, the official Oaklash 2025 kickoff. Featuring Piss E Sissy, Obsidienne Obsurd, DJ NoSilence. $20 suggested donation. 21+ only.
May 17, 1pm-8pm, Old Oakland, 9th Street and Broadway, Oaklash Block Party; hosts: Nicki Jizz, Beatrix Lahaine, Yayah the Artist, Mudd the Two Spirit, La Chucha, Militia Scunt. Headliner is Yvie Oddly. $20 suggested donation. All ages welcome.
May 17, 8pm-2am @ Fluid510, Oaklash Afterkii, 1544 Broadway, featuring Sir Joq, DJ Mnemonics, $20 suggested donation, 18+ only.
May 18, 6pm @ Defremery Park, 1601 Poplar St., Panther Skate Plaza, Cool down in collaboration with Radically Fit, hosted by Cheetah Biscotti. $20 suggested donation. All ages welcome.
https://www.oaklash.com/
