Portland park is renamed after this local drag trailblazer
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Hailed as the city’s “drag godmother,” Portland, Oregon’s Darcelle XV is being memorialized in a major way, just in time for Pride Month.
Downtown Portland will name its newest park Darcelle XV Plaza after the local drag icon, three years after her death.
Known as Walter Cole off the stage, she opened a nightclub called Darcelle XV Showplace, where Cole performed and managed since 1967.
The plaza will be named after the nightclub. It is regarded as the longest-running drag cabaret on the West Coast. The club and Cole were prominent fixtures in the city’s LGBTQ+ movement.
“Amidst erasure of public programs for diversity, equity, and inclusion across the country, the Plaza’s opening represents the permanence of Portland’s commitment to celebrating diversity,” a spokesperson for the Portland Business Alliance said in an announcement for the ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 18.
According to local news station KGW8, the brand new Plaza is set to include an off-leash dog section, overhead string lighting, sail shade structures, and a stage for performances.
The square will be the first public park to be named after a drag performer. But this isn't the first time Darcelle made history.
In 2016, Darcelle was given the Guinness World Record title for being the world’s oldest working drag queen. She was just 82 at the time.
Both the Darcelle XV nightclub and Cole’s home were entered into the Oregon National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
Cole passed away in March 2023 at 92 years old.
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