What do you get when you bring together a big stage, a big crowd and even bigger personalities?
This year, at the second annual Walk the Walk celebrity drag show, what you get is a fierce $226,000 for Regina LGBTQ2 youth shelter Lulu’s Lodge.
“It was overwhelming. To be up there, and to receive that amount of money was incomprehensible,” said John Howard Society (JHS) South Saskatchewan Director of Operations Tanna Young. The Lulu’s Lodge program is administered by JHS.
“For operations, we have no core funding. So, to receive this amount of money will take us from just being able to house youth to being able to elevate the programming. That’s adding more supports and adding more staff and being able to do things we’ve dreamed of since the beginning.”
Organized by Terry Van Mackelberg, popularly known as the fabulous Flo Mingo, Walk the Walk was first held in 2021.
With the help of a group of some of Saskatchewan’s most well-known drag queens, the likes of Saskatchewan NDP MLA Trent Wotherspoon and Regina city councillors John Findura and Shannon Zachidniak donned new names, dressed up in drag and lip-synched for their lives in front of a crowd of over 200 at the Ramada Plaza.
This year, Van Mackelberg knew the event could be made even bigger, and so it was. Walk the Walk 2022 sold out the Casino Regina Show Lounger, packing its floor and balcony with over 600 roaring spectators.
“I started planning 2022 just a few weeks after 2021 because I knew it was going to be bigger,” he said, adding he set an initial fundraising goal of $150,000.
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“And we brought in a quarter of a million dollars that night. That’s huge. That sends a statement to the LGBTQ2S community that we do belong and that there are people out there who are going to support us.”
In addition to the money raised for Lulu’s Lodge, Walk the Walk inspired the University of Regina to establish a $25,000 bursary in honour of the late Derek Seitz, who passed away in 2020.
“Derek was strong leader in our community and he was a big mentor for the kids at Lulu’s Lodge. He stayed there with them and he really guided them into the people they will become,” Van Mackelberg explained.
“And to know that he will continue helping the Lulu kids is so very important. It gives them another chance to succeed in life, a chance they might not have had before because of financial situations.”
Van Mackelberg added the event also offered a chance to educate those outside of the LGBTQ2 community about the struggles the community faces.
“It’s giving people who aren’t part of our community a chance to understand our community and learn from our mentors,” he said.
“I’m proud of Regina. Tears were shed. Laughter was had and I think that’s a true successful event.”
This year’s celebrities included Regina Mayor Sandra Masters as well as Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark, Rebellion Brewing Owner Mark Heise, Saskatchewan NDP MLA Aleana Young, Saskatchewan Party MLA Mark Docherty, CTV Regina Anchor Lee Jones, the Style Academy Owner Candyce Bakke, Play 92 Morning Show Host Jessica Frost and Regina Treaty Status Indian Services Executive Director Erica Beaudin.
Chief Cadmus Delorme of Cowessess First Nation was also scheduled to perform but had to bow out due to illness.
Ultimately, after a panel of judges including Walk the Walk 2021 winner Aida Big Mac (Nathan Morrison) narrowed the field down to three, Kitty Litter (Mark Docherty) was crowned Walk the Walk 2022 Superstar via crowd vote.
“I was there just to support Lulu’s Lodge and John Howard Society, that was it. I just wanted to raise some money and raise some awareness,” Docherty told Global News
“Suddenly I’m crowned and I’m looking around, sayimg, ‘Really?’ But every single person who put themselves out there on stage, they easily could have won.”
Docherty said he wants any youth who feels marginalized or discriminated against to know that support exists, and that he signed up for the to walk the walk, so to speak, and put words into action.
“I would applaud anyone who wants to put forward more donations now. The opportunity to donate is still there.”
Van Mackelberg and Tanna Young, meanwhile, are looking forward to the event coming back for a third year in 2023.
“Right up until the event I kept thinking, ‘This is the last one. I can’t do it again, I’m exhausted,'” said Van Mackelberg.
“But when the event finished within five minutes I said, ‘I can’t believe this is over and I need to start planning the next one’. So I am going to say I’ve committed to another Walk the Walk.”
“To stand up on the stage and look out and see that much love and support in the room, I was overcome with emotion,” Young added.
“I can’t even put it into words.”
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