Freddie’s to hold ‘Love Fest’ Drag Story Hour after bomb threat
Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, the Arlington, Va. LGBTQ establishment, has announced it is hosting a “Love Fest” celebration on Saturday, May 4 that will include a Drag Queen Story Hour brunch in response to a bomb threat that interrupted the first Drag Story Hour event it hosted four weeks earlier. “Help us stop the hate,” a flier announcing the May 4 Love Fest event says. “Join us for our next story time brunch, dressed in your favorite Rainbow/Hippie outfit,” the flier says. “Carry your homemade signs of support.” Freddie Lutz, Freddie’s Beach Bar owner, said a portion of the proceeds of the event will be donated to local LGBTQ charities.
Lutz has reported that separate email messages with a bomb threat were sent to the Freddie’s in the Crystal City section of Arlington, the Freddie’s Beach Bar in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and to him personally with a threat targeting his and his husband’s house located near the Freddie’s in Crystal City.
He said the first threat arrived about an hour before the April 6 Drag Story Hour was scheduled to begin, with drag queen Tara Hoot scheduled to read children’s stories to what Lutz said was a large turnout of kids with their parents and family members.
After asking all patrons to exit the bar into its rear outdoor seating area and parking lot, Arlington police conducted a thorough search of the premises with a bomb sniffing dog and found no trace of a bomb.
