By Summer Callahan
Let every pansy bloom! Tallahassee PrideFest returns to Cascades Park in 2026, co-hosted by local leader Janel Diaz, in character as her alter-ego, Vashai Avionce.
Attendees can expect blue skies, food trucks, artists and artisans, organizations tabling and performers, including drag performers from reality television programs RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. This year’s lineup features Vanessa Vanjie, also known as Miss Vanjie, from seasons 10 and 11 of Drag Race and season 5 of All Stars. It will also include Kori King from season 17 of Drag Race. King is one of the most popular video performers on Cameo and is best known for parodying and impersonating other drag queens, celebrities, fictional characters, and more.
When Janel Diaz was a teenager, she watched RuPaul on The Arsenio Hall Show. At that time, drag (a performance in which artists craft a theatrical persona through costuming, showmanship, and audience interaction) was rarely invited onto national television. RuPaul’s grace and poise, along with a sparkling pink body suit and sculpted blonde wig, captivated Diaz. In that moment, she saw both performance and possibility.
“I just thought to myself … wow! Can I do this?” said Diaz.
After moving from Brooklyn, New York, to South Florida, Diaz experimented with drag. There, she created the character who would become Vashai Avionce: poised, larger than life, with towering hairdos and bright, sculpted gowns. But family stressors, homelessness, and survival sex work forced Diaz to stop performing. In 2006, Diaz received an HIV diagnosis. Two years later, she nearly lost her life due to complications from the disease.
“I wanted to become an advocate to tell others living with HIV to make sure they’re taking care of themselves, taking their meds, getting to that undetectable state,” said Diaz. (“Undetectable” means the amount of HIV in the blood is too low to be detected by routine tests, and the virus cannot be transmitted sexually.) “I’m undetectable now. And that’s because I do what I need to do as far as taking care of myself and taking care of my meds.”
On a friend’s encouragement, Diaz moved to Tallahassee in 2013 and revived her drag persona, Vashai Avionce, performing at local nightclubs and community venues. In drag, there is little separation between audience and performer; the artist is meant to reflect the community, and the community is meant to support the artist. In 2015, Diaz/Vashai was invited to co-host PrideFest; she has co-hosted every year since.
“I had to come in as vivacious and as youthful as I possibly could,” said Diaz. “I wanted to show the people that I was hip. Of course, now I’m refined. I’m like a fine wine.”
The public nature of drag performance and the relationships it fostered offered Diaz the stability to rebuild her life. In her forties, she began her gender transition. She found work at Capital City Youth Services as an outreach advocate supporting at-risk and LGBTQ+ youth. Next, she performed HIV outreach and peer support at Big Bend Cares.
While there, Diaz started a support group for the transgender community. By 2018, that support group had grown into a formal 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Capital Tea. As Executive Director, Diaz uses many of the skills she honed on the stage: public speaking, poise, confidence, inventiveness, and elbow grease. In her role, Diaz works to hold support groups and workshops that support the trans community, along with separate safe houses for trans men and trans women.
“Each day, I’m brainstorming on what we can do next to raise funds, how we can collaborate with other organizations,” said Diaz. “And I’m putting out fires, because this person needs their rent paid, this person needs personal hygiene items, this person needs their tire fixed.”
Diaz hopes to open another safe house for the non-binary community, as well as a safe house specifically for trans individuals coming out of incarceration.
“I once was homeless,” said Diaz. “I didn’t want to see that perpetuation continue with this generation. I want to make sure it’s not a revolving door. Once people leave the safe houses, I want them moving on to bigger and better things in life.”
That spirit of care follows Diaz in her work at PrideFest. As Vashai, whether onstage or mingling with the crowd, Diaz sees the artistry and performance of drag as a way to engage with the audience. Her visibility acts as a way to meet vulnerable members of the community and connect them to resources, as well as to invite onlookers into the party.
“We had [Pride in the Park] at Cascades Park last year,” said Diaz. “It was beautiful, one of the biggest we’ve ever had. And there were people that came to see what all the fuss was about. They walked up to me with my mic in my hand. I was like, we’re having Pride! Come on in, get some food, grab a drink, dance with us.”
“Some people expressed that it was the very first Pride they’ve ever been to,” Diaz continued. “And they want to come back. I think people are fearful of what they don’t understand or what they don’t know.”
Said Diaz: “Once you get your feet in the water, and you know what? The water’s not that cold. It is not that hot. It’s actually just right. And guess what? It’s not even deep.”
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