Kendal Pride starts its engines for 2026 with Drag Race queen

Rupaul’s Drag Race UK season 7 queen Viola will host the Kendal Pride main stage in 2026.

Viola hosted this year’s festival, and will appear on screen in the hit series which premieres on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer today (Thursday).

The annual event – billed as ‘pride done differently’ – will take over the Cumbrian town from Friday June 12 to Sunday 14, with a packed programme of events and activities to be announced in the coming months.

Speaking about her return to Kendal, Viola said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be coming back for Kendal Pride 2026.

“I had a gorgeous time this year and it’s going to be fabulous bringing a bit of Drag Race realness to the Auld Grey Town.”

Fresh from the new series of Rupaul’s Drag Race UK, Viola is the UK’s only violin-playing, live-singing drag queen, and she comes with a kazoo too.

Sally Lofthouse-Jones, chair of the Kendal Pride organising group, said: “Viola was brilliant this year and when we saw she was hitting the runway on Rupaul’s Drag Race UK, we knew we had to invite her back.

“This is just the beginning of what we’ve got planned for 2026 as we build on the successes of our first three years, and add more programme elements for the queer community and our allies.”

Key festival highlights will include the Pride Village at Abbot Hall and the Big Pride Party at Bowness Bay Brewery, which will both return for 2026.

More information about the full programme, as well as details of a ticketed meet and greet with Viola, will be released in the coming months.