Big Gay is a queer-run, Fayetteville-based organization which started with LGBTQ+ art markets but are hosting something a little different this year — a Halloween party on Oct. 18 at Ozark Music Hall in Fayetteville. Ozarks at Large’s Andreah Gratol has more.
Halloween has always been a day of costumes, fun, and being whoever you want to be — but especially for the queer community. It’s a time when many queer people feel comfortable expressing their identity for the first time, and the Big Gay Halloween event aims to celebrate that.
Grace Wilder and Amanda Arafat are the co-founders of The Big Gay Halloween. Grace says that this event is a celebration for the queer community.
“It’s a celebration of queer culture and queer joy, especially right now,” Wilder says. “We feel that something like this is very much needed in the community — just an opportunity to be with each other and have fun.”
Amanda says that they started this market on an inspired whim. When Arkansas enacted several anti-transgender laws in 2021, their first market was put together in two weeks and had over a thousand community members show up.
However, Big Gay Market doesn’t exist just to be a marketplace.
“The Gay Market is very much rooted in grace and politics, and the Gay Market exists as, yes, a community gathering place and a market and an event organization, a place to meet people,” Arafat says. “But truly, I think at its core, Big Gay Market is a protest. So we’re so excited to do that in a different way — with queer joy being really the radical protest that this event will be built around.”
Grace says that they believe Halloween is a popular holiday for the queer community because it’s an opportunity for a more free form of expression. It might help individuals explore or affirm questions they might have regarding their sexuality or gender identity.
However, providing a safe space is extremely important when it comes to a queer space. But Amanda says those spaces are disappearing.
“So to provide a place that is emotionally a safe place for you to let your hair down and have fun on Halloween, but also physically safe — because, you know, Ozark Music Hall is, I think, probably our safest venue to date just in terms of actual security — which in these current times is so important and such a real concern,” Arafat says.
Grace and Amanda both say they are curating a very specific vibe for the event.
“Generally, I want this event to be like the really cool goth EDM club in the movie Blade before Blade comes and, like, slays all the vampires."
“That’s such a specific vibe, but that is really what I’m hoping we end up with.”
“Yeah — glam goth horror.”
The event will take place at Ozark Music Hall on Oct. 18 from 7-11:30 p.m. and will have queer-owned food and beverage vendors serving treats throughout the night. Plus, there will be a lineup of lively LGBTQ+ entertainers, horror movie trivia, and costume and first-time-in-drag contests. Costumes are heavily encouraged.
You can find tickets on the Ozark Music Hall website.
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