On April 17, Kent State’s Fusion Magazine celebrated its spring issue “This Body is Mine” with a night of mocktails and performances from Kent’s local drag community. Titled “RuPaul’s Mag Race,” the event also coincided with the season 18 finale of the Emmy-winning competitive reality television show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

“We always have a print party to celebrate when we have a new magazine come out, but the magazine came out last Thursday, and it kind of just fell around the time of the Drag Race finale,” said Ari Collins, editor-in-chief of Fusion Magazine. “So my team and I were like, what if we put them in the same event? That could be fun. And we work with the local drag community a lot for stories, and they heard about it, and they were like, wait, we should come. That would be such a good time.” 

According to Collins, the event took weeks to plan, initially waiting to find out the date when the Drag Race finale was coming out, and then making sure that all the drag performers interested in performing were able to make it on that day. 

“I’ve honestly never done a drag show before, so in doing that, I had to make sure all the music was ready,” Collins said. “I had to make sure that they all had a place where they could get changed. There’s a lot of timing, and it’s taken months to come together, but I’m really excited for all our planning to come into fruition.” 

The event started at 6 p.m. in the Kent State Rathskeller, with copies of Fusion’s Spring 2026 issue being laid out in front of the stage for attendees to take home. Fusion was also giving out additional merch, including pins, bracelets and stickers of drag queens Darlene Mitchell, Nini Coco and Myki Meeks, the top three finalists of Drag Race season 18. Drinks and food were also served, with the mocktails being themed after the drag queens invited to perform that evening. 

Around 6:30 p.m., Collins gave out a series of awards to Fusion writers, editors and visual artists, for their hard work, dedication and artistry throughout the semester before the evening headed to a quick 20-minute break. The next portion of the event featured performances from drag queens Comatose, Carmen La’Shon-Dupree, Monica Mod and Cabaretta, each displaying their unique artistry to attendees. 

“I started doing drag in high school, and I am in my fifth year of doing drag now,” said Cabaretta, one of the drag performers featured that evening. “And it was kind of born out of a place of not having an outlet. As a queer person, I was like the only ‘out’ kid in my school. It was very hard for me. And from, like, a little small town outside of Pittsburgh, and once I found Drag Race, specifically when I was around fifteen, I was like, ‘Oh my God, there is this whole other world, and there’s all these people online that I can connect with through doing it.’ And so I started following other drag queens, following local queens, people from all over the world, and it really just expanded.” 

Each performer had the opportunity to perform twice that evening, before the next portion of the event began at 8 p.m. with the start of the finale episode of season 18. The crowd cheered enthusiastically for each finalist as the episode began with each of the top three contestants making arguments and fighting to be the last queen standing. Once the episode came to an end, the eventual winner, Florida drag queen Myki Meeks, was chosen as America’s next drag superstar. 

“Drag has always been counterculture because whatever queer people do, it’s always going to be somewhat against the mainstream because the mainstream is very heteronormative and very systemative, ” said Ronnie Wrath, a local Kent drag king. “It’s a tool to spread love and joy, but it’s also a tool to preach about political issues, and the things you believe in.”

Ari Collins is a member of Kent Stater staff as well as Fusion magazine staff.

Ava Dunn is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].