Poppers: A PEI Tea Dance

Following a successful piano bar collaboration during Pride Fest ‘24, Pride PEI and Dave Stewart are once again collaborating during Pride Fest ’26 to present Poppers: A PEI Tea Dance. The event takes place on the green at Brakish, 2 Lower Water Street in Charlottetown, from 3–6 pm on July 26.

This is an opportunity to take part in living queer history with an outdoor afternoon dance fuelled by disco hits, club classics, and tracks from summer 2026.

“I’ve fallen into the role of being an accidental documenter of queer PEI history,” says Stewart. “But I’ve discovered that sharing queer history means more than recording interviews with elder queer Islanders. It can be shared through bringing queer events to the Island for the first time, events that have a long history in our community, so that we can all experience them together.” 

Tea dances rose to prominence in the 1950s and 60s as a grassroots countermeasure against laws that made it illegal for bars to serve queer people or for people of the same gender identity to dance with each other. Typically held on Sunday afternoons in places like Fire Island’s Pines, tea dances have always been an opportunity for queer people to celebrate with abandon and, when applicable, catch the last ferry home and still make it to work on Monday morning. 

“Tea dances continue to be all the rage in places like Provincetown, a legendary queer resort town in Massachusetts,” says Stewart. “There’s no reason we can’t have just as much fun with it here in PEI. 

“At its core,” adds Stewart, “this tea dance is aimed at a 50-plus demographic who will remember the disco and club tracks, as well as a younger 19-plus demographic who have Azealia Banks and Robyn on their iPhones. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Pride than for intergenerational connection on the dance floor, all cultural backgrounds, all physical abilities welcome and interacting.” 

Allies are welcome and encouraged to attend. Please note that this event is 19+ and there is no cover charge.  

Pride Fest ‘26 runs from July 24 to August 2. For a full festival schedule, visit pridepei.ca, or follow Pride PEI on its social media channels.