A local pub held a “Witches and Wizards Yule Ball” cosplay event last Saturday. The pub is not an LGBTQ venue at all, but it is a sort of ‘edgy’ venue, popular with Pagans, Goths, Steampunk fans, and other subculture groups. The all-day event was ‘family friendly’ from Noon to 8 pm, and 21+ from 8 pm to closing at 2 am the next morning. They had two food trucks, in addition to the food and drink the pub served. They had a ‘Diagon Alley’ merchant fair set up, with 8 merchants selling suitable jewelry, magic wands, and other merchandise. They had a tent set up specifically for children’s activities, like wand making and face painting. They did a ‘sorting hat’ ceremony for the kids, run by people dressed as Dumbledore, Tonks, Hagrid and other characters from the movies and books. They had two live band performances before the kids were sent home, and a dJ dance in the evening, with a costume contest. My adult daughter and I love cosplay, and we both have several Harry Potter themed cosplay outfits, so we spent much of the day there.
My daughter dressed as a Ravenclaw student, and I dressed as Hermione, the day she attended a Quiddich match and was cheering for both Ron and Harry. So I wore a Gryffondor knit cap and scarf and a Gryffindor letterman’s jacket with Quiddich team decorations, a school shirt with the Gryffindor lion on the front, and a red plaid skirt which also had Gryffindor decorations on it. I also had Hermione’s ‘time turner’ necklace and her wand, and the wand’s tip lights up when I flick it or tap something with it. The whole outfit was good enough that I made it to the semi-final round in the costume contest - one of the top five entries.
But before the contest, and after the kids had left, was the 21+ dance. I had already eaten, and was waiting near the bar to pick up my daughter’s last food item. The dj-led part of the dance had not started yet, but the pub was playing dancable music, a few people were already dancing, and I was sort of bopping out to the music, dancing in place by myself and just having fun. The song “Lets Dance” started, and I realized a man was extending a hand to me, inviting me onto the dance floor. He seemed to be with another woman, but she just smiled at me and nodded to show she was okay with her guy dancing with me.
We swept all over the dance floor together! He liked doing lots of hand-holding or embracing moves, and twirling his partner around. Nothing untoward or overly handsy, but definitely the kinds of moves a cisgender guy does with a cisgender woman. He did not seem at all drunk, but he also did not act as if he even suspected I was a transgender woman. When the song ended, they both thanked me, with the lady saying, “he really wanted to dance, but my feet were just too tired.”
They vanished into the crowd while I was getting my daughter’s food order to her. At about 9 pm, as the dance began, I was keeping my eye out for a bisexual lady friend who had texted me to say she was on the way. Meanwhile I danced by myself. A stunningly ptetty redhead lady, taller than me and skender, approached me. We had met a few times before. She is in her 20’s, and is the daughter of a lady who attends the softball games that I am a cheerleader at. She happily danced with me several times that night, despite being there with a rather nice looking male date. On at least one occasion, her date gave the two of us a sort of, “WTF is my date doing?” look, but he did not interfere. Got some nice hugs from the tall redhead.
The lady friend who had texted me arrived at 9:30, and stayed with my daughter and I for most of the rest of the night, although we both also danced with others. She even coaxed my introverted daughter out onto the dance floor!
Several other ladies danced with me, alone or in groups. One lady in particular seemed very enthusiastic about dancing with me. She was with another lady whose hairstyle was a brightly colored mohawk-ponytail, and at first I thought they were a lesbian couple. The mohawk girl apologized for how forward the other lady was, stating, “she’s really wasted.” Turned out they were just very good friends, and both were there with their husbands! I would love to see her reaction when she sees the photos her husband took of her that night! When we left, the two ladies and their husbands all thanked us for a great night out.
