Union drag show canceled

“We’re a mobile pop-up entertainment, education & production company who collaborates with local businesses like bars, nightclubs, restaurants, public facilities and more to bring LGBTQIA+ centered entertainment, guest speakers, Q&A panels, game shows, live drag shows, live singers, performing artists and musicians,” Chris Lehman, Nclusion Plus board president, wrote in an email to the city. He estimated between 150 and 200 people would attend the event.

Union Parks Director Chad Pohlmann said Nclusion Plus had booked the auditorium for July 15 at the city’s standard rate of $850, plus a $500 security deposit. But because the group planned to charge admission, an estimated $10, it had to get approval from the Board of Alderman.

The proposal to hold the drag show was heard before the Union Parks, Buildings, Development and Public Service Committee, which includes some members of the Board of Aldermen, at its June 21 meeting.

Nclusion Plus has held events in several cities, including Columbia, Kansas City and Warrensburg, and is looking to expand in this part of the state, Lehman told aldermen.

The auditorium has hosted for-profit events before, but not in Pohlmann’s two years heading the parks department, Pohlmann said.

City Clerk Jonita Copeland recorded the committee as voting 3-2 in favor of the request, with Aldermen Tom Strubberg, Amanda Sullivan and Barbara Laberer voting in favor, while Aldermen Karen Erwin and Dennis Soetebier voted against it.

But Laberer said Monday she did not vote to authorize the drag show, saying she thought she was not allowed to vote as the committee chair.

The event still would have needed approval from the full Board of Aldermen at its July meeting.

But Lehman took the vote to mean the event had been rejected and canceled the event a couple days after the committee meeting, said Angie Breeden, program coordinator for the Union Parks and Recreation Department.

Nclusion Plus did not respond to a request seeking comment on the cancellation.

Erwin said after the meeting that she did not think the drag event was appropriate for Union.

“We’re just a small town, but that’s all,” she said. “I don’t have anything against anybody, one way or another.”

Auditorium revenue

In a separate discussion later in the meeting, Strubberg questioned the amount of revenue brought in by the auditorium, especially with the city considering major renovations for the facility.

Pohlmann reported the main gym area brought in $6,280, along with $1,815 for two meeting rooms.

The data was collected for a one-year period from March 2021 through February 2022.

“Is that really a good use of the money, trying to make that facility so much better?” Strubberg asked. “Maybe we can get $12,000 if we spend a couple hundred thousand.”

But as a public facility, the auditorium is required to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, City Administrator Jonathan Zimmermann said.

“Regardless of how much money we get out of it, we still have to make it accessible for public use,” he said.

The main auditorium was used 177 days in the period monitored, though only 62 were paid reservations.

“Something that’s interesting that I found on those is the amount of time it’s used, but there’s no revenue that’s being generated from all the uses,” Pohlmann said.

The Splash-N-Swimplex had 98 reservations, bringing in $12,965.