Funds raised at the event this Thursday will go directly to a local charity with a special connection to the host Stephen Walsh (drag name Anita New-Box).
The Albie event organiser Sophie Salib-Brown said it was meeting Mr Walsh that brought the event together.
"Originally we were trying to plan it for months and it wasn’t going ahead. We didn’t think there was any drag talent in Wanaka and getting people over from Queenstown was difficult," she said.
Since meeting three and a-half weeks ago, Ms Salib-Brown and Mr Walsh had pulled together the show, including raffle prizes from businesses around the community.
"It’s bonkers, people have been super generous. There are some crazy out-of-the-gate prizes that I’m just excited for people to win," Ms Salib-Brown said.
Mr Walsh has been taking part in drag since his teenage years.
In 2015, he entered the 16-week Sydney Make Me A Drag Queen competition, where he took third place.
His sole condition in joining the event was that the funds raised would go a local charity service of his choice.
Mr Walsh decided to select a local charity providing similar support to what he had experienced growing up in Australia.
"The reason I chose this service was, I got kicked out of a home when I was 14 for being gay. I was actually driven to another town two hours away and thrown out under a bridge by my mother, because she couldn’t handle the fact I was gay," Mr Walsh said.
He moved into The Haven Association, a youth residential care service with a maximum intake of eight teenagers.
The service provided care and support akin to the local charity Mr Walsh had chosen.
"The problem for services like that is they do so much work and are so underfunded ... they do a lot for the community. They are the unsung heroes," he said.
Ms Salib-Brown said the fundraising aspect had become her "favourite part of the night".
They both expressed excitement at bringing to Wanaka something that "welcomes everyone" and celebrates the LGBTQ+ community.
"There is so much here [Wanaka], but so little here in the same regard," Mr Walsh said.
The Drag Music Bingo will be held at the Albie in Albert Town, September 1, from 6.30pm.
