Hundreds of drag queens are prepping to strut their stuff at the annual Bushwig festival this fall.
The festival started in 2011 with a group of friends looking for a place to hang out and perform.
“Bring your ratty wig, bring your busted face, you know and get on stage, have fun, do your thing. I mean, we love you,” says Babes Trust, co-founder of Bushwig.
The weekend-long drag festival held in September is now in its eighth year.
The festival has been growing in size each year. Last year, organizers had to be more selective since there were more than 400 applicants.
“And oh girl it's just been a roller coaster since then. If you performed like last year, maybe you could sit this one and let someone who hasn't,” says Horrorchata, Bushwig co-founder.
Organizers say you don't have to be an experienced drag queen or even a queen.
Bushwig started in Brooklyn as a celebration of drag among friends and the openness of the festival has allowed it to expand to the world.
“There's a lot of young creative people there that are doing drag performances that don’t necessarily fit into the mainstream, so yea, it just made sense for us to do it in Berlin and also this year, we're also going to do it in Mexico City too,” says Babes Trust.
Bushwig NYC will be held Sept. 7 and 8 at Knockdown Center.