Controversy has ensued over an upcoming LGBTQ+-themed event at an Evans night spot.
Drag Me to Dinner is an upcoming drag performance to be hosted by Stay Social Tap and Table, a café and tapas restaurant located at Evans Towne Center.
Some have expressed misgivings about the event. Former Columbia County Commission candidate Lee Muns has recently called out the event on social media. While Muns declined to comment further on the issue, he criticized the show in a Facebook post with a screenshot of the event link attached, dated June 20, that “the slippery slope is getting steeper,” urging members of the community to be especially aware of local happenings.
“If you do not get engaged in the things going on in your community, one day you will walk out only to run back inside. At that point do not complain. It will be your fault, so do not post anything blaming someone else,” Muns said.
Refocus on Education, a Columbia County organization of parents and other locals that campaigns against trends in education such as critical race theory, issued a public statement on Friday decrying the “Drag Me to Dinner” event.
“We believe that this drag event marketed to children is yet another example evidencing how children in Columbia County are being targeted for exposure to sexually explicit content,” the statement said. “We hope that our county leadership steps up to protect children by putting a definitive stop to this event and all future adult entertainment events, regardless how ‘family friendly’ they promise to be.”
The local backlash hasn’t hurt ticket sales. The show, scheduled for Wednesday, June 29 is sold out, and a second night, June 30, has been booked.
Stay Social owner Renee Hajek says she and her staff had originally planned to keep the patio open to the public but decided to close it off and make it an exclusively pre-ticketed event for the safety the customers and performers because of the recent responses she has received from disapproving locals.
Hajek said that certain individuals, whom she did not want to name, have “made threatening phone calls to the event’s sponsors.
“They would boycott their businesses if they continued to provide sponsorship,” said Hajek. “They’ve threatened to take away their business from these other businesses. They’re calling me a child groomer, personally, for having an all-ages event.”
Hajek also stressed that the planned performance, though featuring drag queens, is not an adult themed show, and that the decision to make the show “all ages” was to make clear that she was following Columbia County ordinances, which prohibit adult entertainment in establishments that sell alcohol.
“Just because it’s all ages, doesn’t mean ‘Hey, bring your kids and their coloring books to enjoy the show,’” said Hajek. “If parents so choose to do that they could, because there’s not going to be anything of a sexual nature. No body parts, no gestures, no touching. None of that. It truly is kind of a costume and comedy/lip-synching show.”
Robbie Bennett, executive director of the Development Authority of Columbia County, confirms that Stay Social, which opened a year ago, received approximately $100,000 from the Authority’s Destination Retail Incentive Policy Fund.
The Development Authority is the economic development agency of the county, and is charged with promoting and attracting businesses.
The Destination Retail Incentive Policy is an initiative for businesses whose trade area exceeds the county. Selected businesses are awarded up to $100,000 in grants or loans. The monies can only be used for improvements, equipment purchases, or for gap funding to encourage a potential banking partner into issuing a loan.
Roughly two-thirds of the money Stay Social received to help launch it was part of grant structure, Bennett says. The other third was a forgivable loan structure.Thst loan can be forgiven if the shop can meet its sales numbers, though Bennett notes that in the case of Stay Social, it “hasn’t gotten to that point yet.”
The Board of Commissioners approved the Destination Retail Incentive Policy program on Dec. 17, 2019, committing $500,000 from the county’s Title Ad Valorum Tax fund toward the Development Authority’s Destination Retail fund. The matter was on the consent agenda for the meeting that evening, after the Management and Internal Services Committee approved to forward it to the board on Dec. 10, 2019.
“As part of receiving the funds, they have to adhere to federal, state and local ordinances and laws,” said Bennett. “As long as they do that, we stay out of their business when it comes to overseeing and scrutinizing what they’re doing in special events. Really, that burden ultimately falls to the county, and as long as they’re adhering to the rules of the county we really don’t have a position.”
Savannah River Brewing Company off Walton Road in Augusta hosts a similar event once a month, called “Drag Me to Brunch.” Manager and event coordinator Jim Christian says when Savannah River Brewing kicked off the monthly variety drag show in December of last year, it didn’t have the same experience as Stay Social.
“We’ve been doing it like for six iterations; we have gotten, especially on social media, literally no negative feedback at all,” said Christian. He notes that despite this, other Richmond County establishments coordinating drag shows, such as Draft Society, have received pushback, primarily, once again, through social media.
Christian says Savannah Brewery’s drag shows are ‘PG,’ with nothing “sexually explicit” or “debaucherous.” As Hajek put together the show in order to celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month, Christian notes the shows are part of Savannah Brewing’s welcoming to all communities.
“We have a slogan that goes: “Beer for everyone, everyone for beer,” and we really mean that,” he said. “ We think of ourselves as good capitalists. We want to take everybody’s money, and it sounds kind of flip but we want to appeal to everybody.”
The Drag Me to Dinner show will be at Stay Social Tap and Table 7025 Evans Town Center Blvd Suite 205, on June 29 and 30 at 7 p.m. Both events are all-ages.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
