Cost of Competing in Miss Fire Island Pageant: Receipts

Welcome to Show the Receipts, a series where we ask interesting people to share exactly how much it costs to get shit done. No matter the task, we’re tracking every last dollar from start to finish. Up next: competing in the Miss Fire Island pageant.

Angelique Imperious, 45, has her eyes set on winning this year’s title of Ms. Fire Island. Last year, her first time ever competing in the pageant, she was just one point shy of taking home the crown, but this time around, she’s determined to win the $2,000 cash prize, crown, and trophy. Although her costs associated with competing outweigh the prize money at the end, “it’s never about the money,” Imperious says. It’s about showcasing artistry to the community that matters to her.

Imperious entered the drag scene over 20 years ago, first performing at the now closed Colosseum gay night club in Sarahville, NJ. There, she became a local legend, captivating audiences week after week, and soon entered her first pageant at the Den Nightclub in New Brunswick, NJ. Since then, Imperious has competed in over 16 pageants and even hosted one of her own, spending an estimated $80,000 to date to do so.

Imperious will travel to Cherry Grove in Long Island to compete in this year’s 58th annual Miss Fire Island Pageant on Aug. 31, where she must captivate the judges’ attention while being evaluated on her evening gown, makeup, hair, charm, walk, and overall look. Judges this year include “RuPaul’s Drag Race” favorites Peppermint and Detox, former “Real Housewives of New York City” cast member Countess Luann De Lesseps, and other notable queer and queer-allied figures. The pageant will be hosted by Sasha Colby and Ariel Sinclair.

Yet, the Fire Island Pines and neighboring Cherry Grove are notoriously some of the most expensive beach getaways for New York City residents with nightly hotel rates at upward of $1,500 and meal and grocery prices on par with high-end beach resorts across the country. This year, Imperious is independently funding her participation in the pageant.

Here’s the full cost breakdown.

Task: Competing in the Miss Fire Island pageant
Job: Storage company manager
Location: Cherry Grove, New York
Timeline: 1 night

The Receipts

Transportation: $170
Hotel: $1,500
Pageant entry fee: $100
Meals: $250
Evening gown with alterations: $1,500
Shoes: $50
Wig: $200
Nails: $120
Makeup: $242
Jewelry: $202
Total: $4,334

How I Did It

PS: What has been the biggest splurge in your pageantry process?

Angelique Imperious: Definitely the gown. It’s what pulls everything together and what can make or break your chances. When I started pageantry, I knew I would need to spend a lot of money on a gown, even if I made it myself versus buying it in a story. What may be surprising to people who don’t know drag intimately is that the makeup is a lot more expensive than you think it is. Since we end up using so much of it and we need it to be high quality for our performances, we’re constantly buying more makeup and looking for brands that are doing it better.

PS: Are you able to save money by wearing the same gown or hair in multiple pageants?

AI: Everything has to be new. You never know who the judges are and so it’s hard to recycle items you might use from other pageants. You don’t know which judge has seen it online or in another performance. Being a pageant coordinator myself, I’ve known judges who will read a queen for wearing something they’ve already seen you wear before.

PS: Where were you able to save money?

AI: I always decide what pageants I’ll participate in very early in the year. I knew I would be doing Miss Fire Island a long time ago and so each month, I’ve set aside money that will go to support my participation in this pageant. I always put my necessities first and then budget for my pageant after that. Let’s say I don’t win this year then I’ll start planning for next year immediately afterward. If you know when you’re going to do a pageant and when you want to do it, you should start preparing. That’s something that my drag mother always taught me: if you want to do something, start preparing now.

PS: Do you think queens with more resources have a better chance at winning the title?

AI: It’s not really about all that. It’s about how well you put your package together, how well you know your subject matter. I have known people who have won a pageant the first time they ever performed. Michelle Dupree is a very famous queen when she went in and won a pageant, it was the first time she ever competed. She was going against some great legends. Anyone can come in and take the crown, but it takes preparation and talent to stand out.

Final Thoughts

For Imperious, drag will always be one of the highest forms of expressing who they are at their core to a community of people who love them for it, and you can’t put a price on that. Imperious says it’s what drove her to happiness and success for most of her life and although she now finds herself competing in a category for older queens – “45, I’m not afraid to admit it! I’m an Aries!” she says – pageantry and drag is not something that will be leaving her life any time soon.

As for this year’s upcoming Miss Fire Island pageant, Imperious says, “I’m looking forward to winning this year. Good luck to anyone else who is competing. It’s very important to wish other people good luck because we are all a community.”

Shahamat Uddin is a freelance writer largely covering queer and South Asian issues, but also related lifestyle topics and entertainment. His family hails from Sylhet, Bangladesh, but after growing up in Roswell, GA, he now lives in Brooklyn with his cat, Butter. Outside of PS, he also has bylines in Teen Vogue, Vogue, Vogue India, New York Magazine, Them, The Nation, and more.