Pride 821 opens with drag shows and food and joins similar WERC club on Cherry Avenue NE – Canton Repository
CANTON – Kim Jackson said Pride 821 is a club open to the gay community and those who enjoy drag shows.
But the owner said the club also offers music, dancing and food, including Sunday brunch, as well as “Fish Dinner Friday” and “Taco Tuesday.”
And Pride 821 is open to all, she said.
“It’s definitely a gay club, and I want to have a place that is nice and clean and fun for the gay community,” she said.
“I am who I am,” Jackson said. But anyone “can come in here and wear whatever they want to wear and feel comfortable.
“… Be who you want to be. I really stress that – come as you are. It’s OK; you don’t have to hide in a closet.”
Open since May at 401 Cherry Ave. NE in downtown Canton, Pride 821 is the second drag show club in that immediate area.
Nearby is WERC Dance & Night Club at 304 Cherry Ave. NE.
Food, music, drag shows
Before opening, Pride 821’s interior space required extensive renovations, said Jackson, who said she has a background in sales.
Jackson credited her mother, Debbie Liggins, and Melanie English for their help in opening Pride 821.
English is Jackson’s girlfriend and business partner. Liggins is also a business partner.
Along with a full bar, Pride 821 has a kitchen, dance floor, tables for seating, DJ area, VIP lounge and patio. A changing area for drag queens also has been added.
DJKrooze is in charge of music.
“We have an awesome marketing team,” English said. “Without them, we wouldn’t have people coming in here.”
Both Jackson and English said the food selection, including plans for soul food, makes Pride 821 stand out from similar clubs.
Soul food plans might include collard greens, cabbage, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, ribs and chicken.
Pride 821 is also holding a “Back to School Giveaway” from noon to 4 p.m. on Aug. 14.
The street will be blocked off for vendors. Donations are being accepted for school supplies, including bookbags.
Two clubs on Cherry
When asked about opening her business despite WERC already existing, Jackson said she will focus on what her club has to offer, particularly the quality of the drag queen performances.
Both clubs promote events in conjunction with First Friday activities in downtown Canton.
Stanley Senften and Derek House, of WERC, both said having a second gay club is a positive development for Canton.
Senften owns WERC and House is the director of social media and a bartender.
“It’s always going to be a little fewer and farther in between … (and) it’s not going to be your every street corner type of thing,” House said.
House noted that larger cities have “districts” with multiple clubs open to the LGBTQ community with drag shows.
House said that while WERC caters to the “LGBT-plus” community, “we’re open to everybody. We’re all-encompassing. We want to welcome everybody … as a guest.”
“We do kind of consider ourselves a social club.”
“We think that’s a fantastic thing,” House said of Pride 821. “And we’d be going against our identity and brand if we didn’t say, ‘Hey, we’re excited to have another establishment in town that’s doing what we love.'”
Added Senften: “With Pride 821 across the street, I think that will bring more people to the area.”
House said the area near the two clubs can be “kind of a district where (people) can bounce between the two establishments … and go between the two places.
“And we have something cool going on at both corners, and I think it is exciting,” House said.
Drag shows
Drag shows are a focus of Pride 821, although karaoke nights and line dancing classes are other attractions.
Jackson said Coco Vega oversees entertainment for the club and has experience in the business in Las Vegas.
“We’re bringing new opportunities to Canton, Ohio, and entertainment value that you’d see across the country,” Vega said.
“We’re also interactive with the audience,” Vega said. “The audience is just as much a part of the experience, and they become part of the show.
“If you build it, they will come, and that’s what we’re doing here with Kim.”
Rebranding
Senften previously operated the same type of club at 304 Cherry Ave. under a different name, CREW Night Club.
Renaming the club was part of rebranding the business, House said.
“It’s about rebirth and growth,” he said. “Just like a young individual coming out, you grow, you change, you find yourself, and I think that’s what we’re kind of doing now … is refinding ourselves (amid the pandemic) and the changes.
“We’re kind of growing into something new with the same heart and soul,” he said.
Recent changes at WERC include the addition of food from Ball’s Wieners-N-Buns.
WERC doesn’t have a kitchen, but the gourmet hot dog business sometimes sets up outside the club as a street vendor.
During the week, WERC has happy hour events to watch “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and “Gossip Girl.”
Other events include “Tequila Tuesday,” walking tacos on the patio and DJ nights.
Kardi Redd Diamond is WERC’s entertainment director.
“One of our big draws are the (drag shows), and the performers – that’s a huge opportunity for them, giving them a place to perform … and do their form of art and what they are good at,” House said.
“This is a place for performers to start out. And some have traveled from here to New York and Chicago and got their start here.”
Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com
On Twitter @ebalintREP