by ELIANA BLOCK on October 29, 2015
For about three hours Tuesday night, Washington, D.C., police taped off a section of 17th Street as thousands of locals watched men dressed in Halloween drag sprint to the finish line in platforms and stilettos.
Drag queens Kristina Kelly and Isis Deverreoux hosted the 29th Annual High Heels Race, which runs 0.2 miles from Cobalt, on the corner of R Street, to JR’s Bar & Grill, on Church and 17th.
Dressed as Joan and Melissa Rivers, respectively, the duo worked the crowd by cracking jokes and interviewing unsuspecting pedestrians.
“A lot of guys come out to race, a lot of straights come out to take pictures and about 20 people fall down,” Kelly said, summing up the event.
Kelly saw 8-year-old Lila St. Louis standing with her mom, Melinda, and hoisted the third grader up for an interview.
St. Louis said she came with her daughter because “this is a fun event,” and because they were meeting up with friends.
“I like it because people dress up,” Lila said.
Lila was excited to be a “snow queen” for Halloween and to wear small heels.
“I’m gonna trot,” he said. “I’m gonna sashay down the street.”
Though he doesn’t normally wear three-and-a-half-inch glitter heels, Anthony Galavn, a first-time runner, was determined not to wipeout during the race.
“I’m gonna trot,” Galavn said. “I’m gonna sashay down the street.”
Runners strut the street like a red carpet. Some came in troupes — like the slUtz girls, who engaged with the crowd by tossing Utz potato chips into the air and offering them some of their cheese balls. Other notable costumes included Jessica Rabbit, a Metro worker in red-hot heels and “Captain Hooker.”
While the race had a light mood, runner Tyler Hatch said the event’s mission was “still political.”
“I think it’s good to have visibility and it stirs a conversation and challenges gender roles,” Hatch said.
David Perruzza, general manager of JR’s Bar and Grill and one of the main organizers of the Annual High Heels Race, said the race’s history is rooted in its social atmosphere.
“Twenty-nine years ago, JR’s used to be Annie’s [Paramount Steakhouse] and a couple of guys were drinking and they said, ‘Let’s do a shot and run back.’ So they did that, and they did it the next year, and the next year, to a point where they got a crowd watching,” Perruzza told Fox5. “Then the crowds got so big that after the 13th year, there was basically a riot, so cops asked us to come in and organize the event, and it’s gotten to be this big, huge, fun citywide event now.”
At 9 p.m. the three-block race began, and by 9:05 p.m. a winner was crowned.
The third time was the charm for race winner Brandon Warner, who went by “Tosha Salad” for the evening. Salad, 24, has placed all three times she’s competed, placing second her first year and third last year. This year, Salad completed the course with a record-breaking time of 41 seconds.
What killer kicks was Salad wearing?
“Payless — a size too small for me.”
Eliana Block is a contributing writer to Plex. She studies journalism at the University of Maryland.
