The 7th Annual Beaver Queen Pageant is a Must-See!

Preparations for the 7th Annual Beaver Queen Pageant are well underway and the excitement is building! The pageant is scheduled for Saturday, June 4, in Duke Park Meadow (near the intersection of Acadia Street and Englewood Avenue in Durham). The pre-show activities begin at 4:00 PM and the pageant itself begins at 5:00 PM.

The theme for this year’s pageant, Streampunk is a mash up of riverboats, Streampunk and a futuristic optimism. What a spectacle it will be! Costuming is encouraged and attendees are welcome to pack a picnic or chow down at Durham’s food trucks. The event takes place rain or shine.

For the fifth year in a row, the Beaver Queen Pageant will raise funds for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association. Over $15,000 have been raised for Durham’s dirty little creek in the last four years.

The Annual Beaver Queen Pageant is a free, family-friendly, Beaver Drag fund-raising event that encourages play, honors diversity, supports community and promotes creativity through interactive performance. It is live cartoon and cabaret. Kits can make their own beaver tails, splash in the beaver pond, march in the parade and sing the beaver chant.

Contenders for the Beaver Queen Crown are scored for the quality of their tails, wetlands ready-wear, talent, personal essay and evening wear. Like real life, the audience bribes celebrity judges, pays poll taxes and purchases beaver swag to raise money for ECWA. This year corrupt judges will buy their appointments. Cash and checks buy votes and bribes. As former celebrity judge Frank Stasio says, “Not everybody can be a Beaver Queen Pageant judge. I'm honored to have served. And grateful too, that I was not compelled to screw the whole dam country.”

Judges this year’s judges are bought to us by Shelly Green-DCVB, Brian Bottger-Only Burger, Carol Anderson-Vaguely Reminiscent/Board of Elections, Jana Shannon Bradley-Casbah, Jennings Brody-Parker & Otis, and Sean Wilson-Fullsteam Brewery.

This year we hope to raise $7,000 to help ECWA in its mission to keep our wetlands clean. Keep updated on pageant news here.

2nd Annual Beaver Queen Pageant Kickoff Party

For seven years running, an event called the Beaver Queen Pagent has been held in Durham.  It's not what you think.  Really, it's not. 

 

It is a very big and fun event that is enjoying its 2nd Annual Kickoff Party on Saturday, April 30 at the Casbah.  There will be live music square and swing dancing, an opportunity to meet this year's Beaver Queen Pageant contestants, and food trucks including Pie Pushers. The event is a benefit concert and dance party for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association. Tickets are $15 in advance, or at the Casbah door.

Musicians featured at the event are: 

• Alice Gerrard, legendary old-time and bluegrass singer/songwriter & Beverly Smith, a fine old-time guitar, fiddle, and mandolin player.  The duo will play traditional and original songs.
• The Carolina Catbirds, with Shay Garriock on fiddle, Brett Riggs on banjo, Pan Riggs on guitar, Dwight Rogers on bass, and Gail Gillespie on mandolin, are inspired by the traditional string band music of North Carolina and Virginia. They frequently play square dances and have won numerous awards at festivals and fiddlers conventions. Beverly Smith will call some squares while the Carolina Catbirds play.
• The Bulltown Strutters are a community parade band, inspired by street band traditions from New Orleans. They build camaraderie with fun music and dance, inspiring people to join the revelry with a rowdy take on jazz standards. 

ECWA encourages community involvement through workdays, nature walks, and outreach into neighborhoods within the Ellerbe Creek watershed. They also are working toward completion of an urban trail system linking all parts of the watershed, preservation of Ellerbe Creek’s headwaters, and restoration of the creek’s channel and floodplain as well as bringing back the rich native flora of the Ellerbe Creek valley, much of which survives only in remnants along roadways, in ditches, or sporadically along the creek.

 

Putting the "Do" in Doom

Three years ago volunteers organized a beginner’s triathlon in Durham designed for “nontraditional athletes” (translate – couch potatoes and fathletes). The event was summed up this way: “If you think you have a shot at winning this race then this race is not for you.”

The event, The Grueling Triathlon of Doom, will be held on April 17 at 8:30 am, and is a five lap swim, five mile bike, and 1 mile walk. The route for the event will be announced this spring; however registration closes February 28, so visit the website and register now to take part in one of Durham's unique events.

Known for its great food, great historic sites, great art museums, and great sports, among other great things, Durham is perhaps a little less well known is its penchant for quirky festivals, not surprising in a community known for its genuine, engaged, and unpretentious citizens who are proud of the community in which they live.

Consider just a handful of these “lesser-known” festivals held in Durham each year: Harley Davidson Bike Show and Chili Contest (now that’s a hot combination!); Backyard Beer Festival (Durhamites have become quite the beer connoisseurs); Holy Ghost Weenie Roast (‘nuf said!); and the wildly popular Beaver Queen Pageant.