Fruit Loop turns Pendennis Building into a fun house
A queer non-profit is bringing its annual Halloween bash to a historical building in the heart of downtown Edmonton.
The Fruit Loop Society of Alberta is hosting its Halloween Fun House event at the Pendennis Building on Oct. 28.
"We're trying to lean into its natural architecture of whimsy. There is such an encouragement to explore, to be surprised, and to give yourself over to a lens of discovery and curiosity," Joshua Wolchansky, Fruit Loop's director of entertainment, told Taproot.
The event takes place over five floors and features more than 50 performers, such as drag artists Cedar T and Karly Klimax, alongside magician Jay Flair. Some will be presented in conventional performance environments, but many others will be roving and popping up.
"We'll have 50 to 70 individuals who are contracted in a talent capacity," Wolchansky said. "That could be anything from a pole dancer … or a ghost-story teller, where you're roaming and immersive. It could be fortune typists. There's going to be all sorts of people who are lending their artistic expertise in making this show."
People have certain expectations about what a queer or Halloween event looks like, Wolchansky said. Fruit Loop wants to upend that, taking influence from immersive theatre experiences like Sleep No More and Queen of the Night.
"There's going to be things that you know and love, and there's going to be some things that might surprise you — will hopefully delight you," he said. "Then also, with the idea of what a queer party is going to be, there is again going to be things that we all know and expect, and there are going to the opportunities where we want to provide a spotlight for queer performance writ large. It doesn't need to necessarily be the conventional entertainment programming that you would see in a club, but we want to support queer art, centre queer art, and celebrate queer art."
One artist who will do so is CallMeKeeks. She does clown, drag, and "anything circus." While she didn't want to reveal too much, she told Taproot she will bring "very scary, sexy clown and demon stuff" to the event.
The Pendennis Building, a Municipal Historic Resource at 9660 Jasper Avenue NW, was built in 1911 and renovated by Pendennis Developments in 2019 and 2020. It serves as a commercial real estate building in addition to renting space for events.
