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Story Time With a Drag Queen Comes to Downtown Syracuse Story Time With a Drag Queen Comes to Downtown Syracuse

By Pa Zong Lee

IMANI CLEMENT: A new bookstore in downtown Syracuse is opening tomorrow with unique events happening over the weekend. Our Pa-Zong Lee is at Parthenon Books to tell us what’s happening on Sunday, Pa-Zong?
PA-ZONG LEE: Yes so I’m here at Parthenon Books where they’re getting ready for the grand opening tomorrow, but on Sunday they have a special event, Storytime with a Drag Queen, and this is just one of their many efforts to build community.
LEE: Parthenon books opening this weekend will also open doors to inclusion and diversity. This Sunday they will begin Story Time with a drag queen.
CHARLIE MURPHY: To have a drag queen come, read children books about inclusion, what a great idea.
LEE: The bookstore will bring representation and inclusivity from their books to real-life. And the first to grace the stage will be Miss Foxxy. To her, drag is an art form of expression and she says she hopes this will help everyone to live their authentic lives and accept those who are different.
MURPHY: And she’s super passionate about wanting to teach kids about inclusion and acceptance and she thinks it’s super important and she’s very like whatever you guys need from me, I’m there, I just want to do this for the community.
LEE: Speaking of community, this new bookstore coming to downtown is a step in reviving its community and its culture.
GIAMPA: With the revitalization that’s going on, this is sort of that missing link that is going to bring downtown together.
LEE: So right here around this little corner is where story time with a drag queen will be happening. Miss Foxxy will be here reading some of these books just to kick things off right. And you can even see in this little corner, some little beanbags, a comfy area, you can see more of this colorful mural right behind me in this children’s book area. Besides this they even have a little cafe in here so I mean talk about just bringing the community together and building a comfortable and joyful space, back to you guys.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — A new bookstore is coming to downtown Syracuse and will be starting a special event. Parthenon Books will have Story Time with a Drag Queen on Sunday after their grand opening tomorrow.

The assistant store manager, Charlie Murphy, played a part in bringing this idea to life after realizing the lack of LGBTQ representation within the city.

“To have a drag queen come, read children books about inclusion, I mean what a great idea,” said Murphy.

Miss Foxxy, whose “boy name” is Mark Laubach, will be the first drag queen to grace the stage. Laubach has been doing drag for years and sees this initiative as a step towards inclusivity.

“I hope to expose [people] to something different and have them see its okay to express yourself and live your true authentic life,” said Laubach.

The establishment of the bookstore itself is a game changer as the co-founder, Selena Giampa, said this is the missing link in the community.

“I think that small-town main streets always have something like a bookstore, if not a bookstore. And you know, we want South Salina Street to be Syracuse’s main street again, it was Syracuse’s original main street,” said Giampa.

Murphy said he hopes this story time event will continue in the future and that children will learn more about inclusion and loving yourself as well as those who are different.

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