Drag queens try to provide downtown San Francisco with a boost
SAN FRANCISCO -- As businesses in San Francisco's Financial District continue to struggle to bounce back, the area getting an unexpected boost from an unlikely source: its drag queens.
Before each performance, Bobby Rivera has a time-honored tradition.
"I take three deep breaths, and I sort of do a hop and then I douse myself in perfume and I hit it," he said.
A popular drag queen, Rivera has regular gigs at some of the Castro's biggest venues. But on this particular evening, he wasn't appearing at a bar or a club.
Instead, he was at a flower shop on Market Street. It was in that flower shop that he blossomed into his alter ego, Bobby Friday.
Why here? It's all part of a new initiative by a local business organization called the Downtown SF Partnership that is working to help San Francisco's downtown that is still reeling from a devastating pandemic and a growing remote economy.
The group has taken a unique approach, staging a month-long series of drag pop-up events called Drag Me Downtown.
Robbie silver, the group's executive director, said the idea is to bring foot traffic into an area beyond it's 9-5 rush.
"When you think of drag performances you don't think of the Downtown Financial District," he said. "We're trying to change that narrative."
Rubie Campbell, the co-owner of the flower shop Nigella SF, said she signed on both for exposure and as a way to celebrate Pride.
"It's really important for us to support the queer community and just to bring livelihood to the area," she said.
The shows are happening at a time when LGBTQ+ activists around the country are working to fight a slew of anti-drag laws in several states.
"The drag community has just been under attack throughout the country, and we are putting drag culture and drag art on a pedestal to highlight them," Silver said.
For Rivera, it's a chance to show his art in places that don't usually see it while helping boost a city that always been welcoming to his community.
"Honestly, it's everything," he said. "And that's why I'm so grateful and beyond honored and so happy to call San Francisco home."