What to Know
- In honor of Pride, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Times Square and Madame Tussauds New York broke the world record for longest feather boa
- The rainbow-colored accessory stretched 1.2 miles long -- four times the height of the Empire State Building
- The tourist attractions invited famous drag queen Shangela to host the event and perform for the crowd overflowing into 42nd street traffic
In honor of Pride, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Times Square and Madame Tussauds New York partnered together Thursday to break the Guinness World Record for the longest feather boa.
Spanning 1.2 miles long -- nearly four times the height of the Empire State Building -- the rainbow-colored accessory commemorated WorldPride coming to New York City and America for the first time.
The tourist attractions invited famous drag queen Shangela Wadley, who holds the record for most appearances on Rupaul’s Drag Race, to emcee the event and perform for the crowd overflowing into 42nd street traffic. And halleloo, she did not disappoint.
Believe it or not, she flipped her Diana Ross-esque wig with such force and speed that it threatened to fly right off of her head and into the audience.
In addition to Wadley, event partner The Ride invited and transported to the celebration 30 of New York’s finest drag queens, whose multicolored outfits, wigs and makeup rivaled the huge rainbow feather boa in front of them.
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“Honey, drag queens and feather boas -- we go together like peanut butter and jelly, okay?” Wadley said. “That makes me hungry and that makes me super happy because it’s great to be able to celebrate another milestone for our community, any way we can.”
Not only did Wadley serve fish -- drag lingo for looking stunningly feminine -- but she sang about it too, remixing Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” into “Uptown Fish.”
Engaging the audience in a call and response of “So fish... Yes Gawd,” Wadley shared her story as a small-town drag queen making her dreams come true in the big apple.
“I never thought that I’d be out here in New York City in Times Square,” Wadley said. “I’m a little kid from Paris, Texas. As a drag entertainer, here I am though today celebrating and living my life out authentically and with so much love and joy… and pride.”
Whatever financial gain that Madame Tussauds or Ripley’s receive as a result of the event will be donated to the Trevor Project -- a crisis intervention and suicide prevention non-profit for LGBTQ+ youth.
The 42nd Street Pride celebration did not stop there. Ripley’s has the feather boa on display for the rest of June, along with a functioning car in the shape of a huge red stiletto.
