Most days of the week, Derailed Bar and Grill in Opelika is a fun bar and place for the Auburn community to enjoy themselves. But on Friday, Derailed transforms into one of Auburn’s best-kept secrets.
Everywhere you look, people are enjoying themselves dancing and meeting new people with an electric feeling celebrating the weekend. When it’s time for the "attitude check," the whole crowd knows what to do and is in sync with the energy for the anticipated Friday night event: The Drag Queens.
Drag Queens at Derailed are the highlight of the evening. At 9:30 p.m., the Queens perform a pre-show, giving the crowd a taste of their acts and what is to come for the main show at 11:30 p.m. The crowd sings along with the queens, dancing and enjoying themselves. Derailed averages crowds of 150-200 people per Friday night to come see the Queens by the time midnight rolls around.
Imberli Von Trell, originally hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio, is part of the original group of Drag Queen performers. She started her passion for entertainment performing in Columbus eight years ago. She then moved to Auburn with her husband and was soon approached to start participating in the drag shows here in town.
“I never thought it would [become a passion of mine], but all of us here like to work together and consider this our baby and our show we take care of," Von Trell said. "We did not expect it to be as big as it is now."
Von Trell’s signature performance includes what she calls “bubblegum music” and other songs from the current Top 40 that the whole venue can feel they can have a good time listening to.
“It is not fun to do a show to a song that nobody knows or a song that people don’t want to party to," Von Trell said. "One of our main goals is to make money for the bar. Nobody wants to party to ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion."
Queen Cora Bleu has been in and out of Auburn for seven years but after moving around, she decided to make this town her home. Bleu’s background in competitive cheerleading for 16 years encouraged her to find another outlet to express her passion for performing. She found drag shows and has not looked back.
Bleu’s signature aspect of her performance is her jump split or back handspring; parts of her competitive cheer background that have become fundamental in her entertainment style.
“[My favorite part] is definitely seeing the crowd enjoy themselves when I’m putting on a performance," Bleu said. "Seeing everyone come out and enjoy themselves and seeing people come out to the bar and feeling like they are in a safe zone, that’s my favorite part."
Originally, Derailed was called Forshizzle until owner Tiffany Hodges bought it and started developing her vision for expanding entertainment in the Auburn community.
Auburn’s drag community has been following her throughout each bar she has worked at for the past seven years. With special guests every week and a growing crowd, Hodges could not be more pleased.
“The crowds grow every Friday. It is not just kids who come, we have a lot of parents come in, too," Hodges said. "There is definitely a more open-minded crowd in Auburn than there was ten years ago."
In addition to their performances, the Queens have been fundamental in starting Auburn’s Pride on The Plains, expecting crowds ranging from 3,000-5,000 people. They have also expanded their performances into other restaurants and bars around town.
When asked in regards to the acceptance the Queens get from the Auburn community, Hodges said “I mean you’re always going to have your closed minded folks but, for the most part, we have never had anybody make rude comments. They just don’t come here. They know what we have on Friday and if they don’t like it they just don’t come. My mom jokes ‘you own that gay bar,’ but I don’t care. These people are life-long friends to me and I have known them for years. They are a great group of folk."
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