A surfing duck in a tutu who charmed the crowd at Gold Coast Pride Festival has won the festival’s dog pageant in a landslide in a hilarious upset.
Gold Coast Pride Festival returned to sunny Surfers Paradise on June 3, with the annual beach Pride Parade and Fair Day at Macintosh Island Park.
As well as live music and amazing drag, the festival’s annual rainbow doggy pageant was also held on the park stage.
“Duck” lives at Rainbow Bay and Snapper Rocks in Coolangatta, and is a keen surfer at his local beach. He’s a local celebrity and has over 11,000 followers on Instagram.
Duck’s owner Kate is a school teacher on the Coast. At the encouragement of some students, Kate took Duck along to Fair Day.
Wearing his fierce rainbow tutu, Duck proudly entered the dog pageant.
He was up against some stiff competition in the lineup of lovable Coast pooches. The dogs performed tricks for drag MC Carmen Taykett (pictured) and the crowd of Pridegoers.
Image: Jordan HirstBut ultimately, the contest was decided by audience response. The cheers Duck received meant he was the dog pageant’s clear winner.
Pridegoers lined up to take selfies with Duck, and organisers Danni and Vince also cheered Duck’s “unexpected” win.
They’ve now changed the name to the Gold Coast Pride Pet Pageant and want even more diverse animals to enter next time.
See the photos below:
Drag queen Eva Mendoza named Miss Gold Coast Pride
Earlier in the day, twelve drag performers battled it out for the title of Miss Gold Coast Pride for 2023, with talented Coast queen Eva Mendoza winning the crown (pictured below).
This year’s Gold Coast Pride Festival was the third annual iteration of the event. The folks at Gold Coast Rainbow Communities put the festival on each year.
Gold Coast Pride includes Australia’s only beach Pride Parade at Narrowneck, Main Beach, all the way to the Fair Day is in Macintosh Island Park.
Follow Gold Coast Rainbow Communities on Facebook to stay up to date on their events.
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