THE SHOW WILL GO ON. UW-Eau Claire's annual Fire Ball drag show event – which had occurred annually for about 14 years – was cancelled for 2026. The campus will instead be hosting the student-focused "House of Blugold" drag ball. (Photo from the 2025 Fire Ball event)

Calling all drag lovers! UW-Eau Claire’s Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) is hosting “House of Blugold: A Drag Ball Extravaganza” at 7pm on Feb. 28 on campus in the Davies Student Center’s Ojibwe Ballroom.

The show will be hosted by popular longtime performer Khloe Wold and feature performances by a variety of other local legends and talents. GSRC Assistant Director Kallie Friede said House of Blugold will be free to students and the public, with any voluntary donations going to the Campus Harvest Food Pantry and the Chippewa Valley Queer Prom.

The new event emerged following the cancellation of this year's Fire Ball event; an annual event held at UW-Eau Claire, which had taken place for more than 14 years. In a Jan. 13 Facebook post, Friede said its cancellation was due to several staff members being on leave during the spring semester.

“I understand that this news may be disappointing,” Friede wrote. “Please know that this decision was not made lightly.”

Tiffani Aura, a UW-Eau Claire alumnus and local drag performer, acts as both an organizer of the event and a performer.

UW-Eau Claire’s Gender and Sexuality Resource Center  Assistant Director, Kallie Friede, pictured at the 2025 Fire Ball event.

“I'm focused on just making sure the students feel comfortable and feel welcome in this environment so they're not just thrown into it,” Aura said.

Aura, who was instrumental in putting on drag performances on upper campus prior to graduating this past December, noted that House of Blugold will feature drag performers from around the Chippewa Valley, including five college students and high school student performers.

The addition of student performers is an element that was not included in previous iterations of The Fire Ball, Aura said. This inclusion will be especially valuable to young drag performers looking to break their way into the local scene, she added.

Speculation about whether the event would be held or not circulated this past fall when UW-Eau Claire eliminated the interim position of Chris Jorgenson, a founder and longtime organizer of The Fire Ball.

Jorgenson is still employed at the university – as the director of the GSRC – and is on leave through February, Friede said. Friede said she and the GSRC will carry on the tradition of holding a drag ball on campus.

While this year's cancellation of The Fire Ball felt like another loss following the closure of popular drag venues across Wisconsin in recent years, Aura said – including the state's oldest drag bar, Milwaukee's This Is It!, and The ReMixx in Neenah – she is glad to see the House of Blugold event step in.

“I've been thinking a lot about how we cultivate joy as an act of resistance and how that really helps people sustain through the challenging moments,” Friede said.

House of Blugold will “return to the roots” of how The Fire Ball began, Friede said, with the showcase set to spotlight familiar performers from the community. Amber Hudson, Felicia Ashton, Diablo and Shay are just a few of the faces audience members may recognize from past Fire Ball events.

Dylan 'Diablo' Vance, now based in Minnesota, was an Eau Claire high schooler when he won the Miss Wisconsin Youth Entertainer Pageant. Diablo, pictured at the 2025 Fire Ball event, will return to Eau Claire for the "House of Blugold" event.

This article was originally published in The Spectator and was edited for publication in Volume One. For more information, visit House of Blugold event's webpage and keep up with event updates through The Fire Ball Facebook page. Inquiries can be sent via email to GSRC@uwec.edu.