Izzy Fierce walked out at 7 p.m., red hair so high it could touch the ceiling. “Round and round the bingo cage goes, where it lands, only I know,” Fierce said as the numbers dropped one by one and she began calling them out.
Lane Tech choir held its first drag queen bingo fundraiser April 12 at Hamburger Mary’s to raise money in order to switch from dresses and tuxes to new concert robes. “[Concert robes] are gender neutral,” said choir teacher Ashley McKinstry on why they are switching. “It doesn’t matter what you are wearing underneath them. [Also,] so kids don’t have to go buy their own clothing. They are a little cheaper, and also they would stay here and so I wouldn’t have to rebuy them every single year.”
Additionally, the choir is in need of new robes as they are required to wear them for their Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) competition, and for the past few years, they have been borrowing them from a local church.
The first game of the night was classic bingo and as the contestants got one spot away from winning, Fierce directed them to exclaim “It’s on, b*****s!”
The first winner of the night was freshman Emma Sennett. While this is her first year, joining choir felt like a natural next step to her singing journey. “I’ve been doing voice lessons and singing since I was about six, so choir is kind of like the next step in that,” Sennett said.
To win round two, contestants had to get five in a row diagonally. Upon winning, contestants were able to choose prizes, which included items such as Starbucks gift cards, hair products, water bottles, or squishy toys.
Intertwined between the six games of bingo, there was a plethora of mini games, the first of which was a guess the song game. The two contestants, Bart and Kelsey, both floundered through the game, not knowing songs such as “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift or “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, but ultimately Kelsey won after guessing “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves.
Following the mini games, Fierce took a break and made way for performances by choir members. The first performance was by the choir trio, Mallory Finnigan, Amelia Taylor, and Grey Pillsbury, who sang “And Nature Smiled” by Allen Koepke, which the trio performed at the choir IHSA competition.
While it is only her first year, Pillsbury has been interested in choir for a long time. “My freshman year, I saw the choir concert right after I had done my course selection, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I want to be a part of that,’” Pillsbury said. “The pieces they played were really cool, and I just really loved the general energy of being in a chorus.”
After this performance, senior Henry Wachob did an acoustic cover of the song “My Old Man” by Mac DeMarco which led into Fierce coming back out to do a performance of her own.
Fierce went around the restaurant collecting tips from the audience, lip synching to a medley of Abba songs, beginning with “Take a Chance” and closing with “Waterloo” before returning to her bingo table. The next round was a regular game of bingo that Sennett won once again. “[The event] was super fun, and I won bingo twice,” Sennett said.
Along with the many mini games and chances to win prizes, there were certain calls and responses that could also give the players a chance to win a prize. For instance, when the number B-11 was called, the crowd would erupt in people screaming “hands to heaven!” with the first one to call it out winning a gift from the prize box.
Following the 4th bingo round, there was another mini game where junior Haven McDermit and sophomore Maeve Gray competed to see who is the better drag queen. McDermit, nicknamed Anita Loan, and Gray, nicknamed Sweet Cheeks, danced around Hamburger Mary’s collecting tips. Anita Loan came out the victor, collecting $90 in tips, beating Sweet Cheeks by just one dollar. All of the money from the mini game was then donated back to the choir.
With only two games remaining, there were more specialty rounds, the first of which was the “pole dancer” which required all five filled squares to be in a vertical line, and then “I got B.O.” where contestants needed to fill an entire vertical line in both the B and the O sections.
With the final prize being two tickets to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, stakes were higher than ever, but contestants were faced with a worthy opponent. “Me and my family play bingo religiously,” Pillsbury said. “The night before, we actually went to another bingo event. I was kind of on a hot streak this weekend.” Pillsbury won this round of bingo, taking home the tickets and joyfully exclaiming “I got B.O!”
Despite being an event to raise money for the Lane Tech choir, it was just as pleasurable as if it were a normal bingo night. “I really enjoyed the event,” Pillsbury said. “I won two tickets to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which was insane, and it’s also just a really great vibe.”
