Touted around the Moscow community as “not your grandmother’s bingo,” Inland Oasis’s monthly Drag Bingo events will be moving to the 1912 Center.
For more than two years, Drag Bingo has been hosted by One World Cafe in downtown Moscow. Members of Inland Oasis and Aquasha DeLusty decided to move the events to the 1912 Center to accommodate for increased popularity over the years.
“The crowds have grown steadily to the point that we could not seat everyone who came to play bingo,” said Aquasha DeLusty, founder and organizer of Drag Bingo.
Inland Oasis, the non-profit organization that hosts Drag Bingo, “give(s) all members of the LGBTQIA a safe place to share idea and enjoy each other’s company,” DeLusty said. DeLusty said the bingo nights were started with the intention of creating “a safe place for people of all ages to come and enjoy an evening of games and entertainment.”
Although the One World Cafe bingo nights were well-attended and within a short walk of the University of Idaho campus, the move to the 1912 Center will help make the events more inclusive to a larger number of people.
“We found it necessary to move to the 1912 Center, so we can continue to grow and be able to have everyone that wants to come play,” DeLusty said.
Bingo nights will be hosted in the 1912 Center’s Great Room, which can hold between 120 and 200 people — plenty of room for the growing crowds. DeLusty also said the 1912 Center is still within easy walking distance of the UI campus, and has more accessible parking spaces nearby for bingo attendees who drive.
Other than the location change, Drag Bingo will proceed as normal. Cards will still go on sale at 6:30 p.m. on the second Monday of each month, and pricing will stay the same at $1 per Bingo card and $15 for the Play-All-Night bundle.
Furthermore, this move does not mean the end of the partnership between One World Cafe and Inland Oasis.
“One World Cafe and Inland Oasis will continue to support each other,” DeLusty said. “Beside the change of space, our relationship working as a community will not change.”
More information about future Drag Bingo nights and other Inland Oasis events can be found on their website inlandoasis.org or on Facebook at @InlandOasis.
Beth Hoots can be reached at [email protected]