Partying is hard work, and many cannot resist the lure of a burrito hunt when the party is mid-swing. But this Friday, Spanish Moon will host a ball at which the burritos rain upon the partiers, eliminating the need to leave.
This fall’s Delta Mouth Drag Ball is fast food themed, but University alumna and event coordinator Kimberly Vodicka said the real theme of the ball is excess.
“Fast food is cheap and obscene, something that most people have a love-hate relationship with,” Vodicka said. “Likewise, ‘food porn’ is such a silly yet simultaneously terrifying concept.”
While various dollar menu items, like burritos, will be flying through the air at Sonic speeds, there will also be prizes for five costume categories: Finger-Lickin’ Genderf***, Succulent Sweetheart, Special Saucy Extravaganza, Chicken-Fried Realness and Virgin Drive-Thru, for those in drag for the first time.
The drag ball started as an annual event in 2010 by John David Harding as a fundraising effort for the Delta Mouth Literary Festival. Starting this year, the festival will be held twice a year after the massive success of the October 2012 event — the first held at the Spanish Moon.
Each year’s creative writing graduate students organize the Delta Mouth Literary Festival, said Anna Wilson, festival director. They coordinate all fundraising efforts, including the ball, which now accounts for more than half of the funding for Louisiana’s largest free literary festival.
“This year’s Drag Ball fabulousness is largely owing to the passionate efforts of Kim Vodicka,” Wilson said.
Vodicka has been coordinating the ball since its second iteration in 2011. The event used to be centered on the University English Department, but has since branched out to include the greater community.
“It has been amazing to watch this event double, triple and even quadruple in attendance over the years and to see the lineup evolve and become more and more diverse,” Vodicka said, adding that the experience has been “like watching a cute little mutant creature grow.”
While the theme was chosen for fun, the performers have run with it, Vodicka said, and made it an artistic and political statement.
Performer Mithat’s 15-minute set of original music will be “a fast food revolution story with bondage, freedom and a lot of freedom fries.” Mithat has been a participant since February 2013, after winning the costume contest in 2012’s prom-themed ball.
“Drag Ball … does edge toward social commentary in regards to sexual identity and gender stereotypes,” Mithat said. 
He said the event can bring together people from all parts of the gender and sexuality spectrums in a way that is amazing.
 “I’ve never felt limited in where I can go and what I can do, and I think for people that maybe feel that way it’s a good stepping stone to go out of your comfort zone and have a f***ing blast,” Mithat said.
Mithat said he’s excited to see the performers’ finger-lickin’ interpretations of the deep-fried theme.
“I’m always surprised at the mixed crowd that the event draws, at the level of enthusiasm that the organizers and performers share, and I was especially surprised at how bangin’ I look in full girls’ night out regalia,” said DJ Matsy, who has performed at the ball since 2012.
Matsy said Spanish Moon is the perfect venue for such an event, as it is more accessible to the community as a whole than local gay bars.
Members of the new local queer burlesque troupe Holly Rouge will perform, as well as burger kings and dairy queens Kitten Kaboodle, Amanda Stinko and Arilyn Roberts, rappers Queen Qui and Malibu Barbarian, among     others.
Entry will be $10, or $7 before 10 p.m. Doors open at 9 p.m. All proceeds benefit the sixth annual Delta Mouth Literary Festival.