Outside the orbit of Drag Race and touring headliners, Montreal's indie drag scene puts experimentation over polish, blending theatre, burlesque, and performance art.
Club Pays, the first sovereigntist café in Quebec, creates a gathering space on Plaza Saint-Hubert for sovereigntists (and anyone curious enough to walk in).
As margins shrink, succession fades, and chains tighten their grip, the traditional dep model is eroding—and that's pushing new owners to find different ways to survive.
Outside the orbit of Drag Race and touring headliners, Montreal's indie drag scene puts experimentation over polish, blending theatre, burlesque, and performance art.
Club Pays, the first sovereigntist café in Quebec, creates a gathering space on Plaza Saint-Hubert for sovereigntists (and anyone curious enough to walk in).
As margins shrink, succession fades, and chains tighten their grip, the traditional dep model is eroding—and that's pushing new owners to find different ways to survive.
There’s something about seeing it all in one place—faces familiar and new, spritzes in hand, records spinning, plates passing from kitchen to crowd. This photo gallery doesn’t just capture the block party.
It captures the thing we’ve been quietly building since our first articles and newsletters: a community of collaborators, characters, and readers who give a damn.
On July 20, 2025 that community came to life at Bar WILLS, where Montreal showed up hard. JoJo Flores and DJ HIDI set the tone with warmth and deep cuts. La Spada fed the soul with dishes like focaccia dressed up with peaches and tomato, arancini, and cacio e pepe popcorn.
Writers meeting readers, neighbours swapping stories, chefs, artists, and DJs trading notes—it was a beauty of a day. We said we were throwing a party, but what happened was something better: a reminder of why we started The Main in the first place.
If you were there, you already know. If you weren’t—scroll through and see what it looked like when a local magazine invited its city to show up, and the city actually did.
Thanks so much to everyone who came out!
Photos by Marie Rousseau:
Photos by Pierre Magallanes:
Photos by Philip Tabah:
There’s something about seeing it all in one place—faces familiar and new, spritzes in hand, records spinning, plates passing from kitchen to crowd. This photo gallery doesn’t just capture the block party.
It captures the thing we’ve been quietly building since our first articles and newsletters: a community of collaborators, characters, and readers who give a damn.
On July 20, 2025 that community came to life at Bar WILLS, where Montreal showed up hard. JoJo Flores and DJ HIDI set the tone with warmth and deep cuts. La Spada fed the soul with dishes like focaccia dressed up with peaches and tomato, arancini, and cacio e pepe popcorn.
Writers meeting readers, neighbours swapping stories, chefs, artists, and DJs trading notes—it was a beauty of a day. We said we were throwing a party, but what happened was something better: a reminder of why we started The Main in the first place.
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Create a free account to read this story and access 3 articles per month, plus our weekly Bulletin.
There’s something about seeing it all in one place—faces familiar and new, spritzes in hand, records spinning, plates passing from kitchen to crowd. This photo gallery doesn’t just capture the block party.
It captures the thing we’ve been quietly building since our first articles and newsletters: a community of collaborators, characters, and readers who give a damn.
On July 20, 2025 that community came to life at Bar WILLS, where Montreal showed up hard. JoJo Flores and DJ HIDI set the tone with warmth and deep cuts. La Spada fed the soul with dishes like focaccia dressed up with peaches and tomato, arancini, and cacio e pepe popcorn.
Writers meeting readers, neighbours swapping stories, chefs, artists, and DJs trading notes—it was a beauty of a day. We said we were throwing a party, but what happened was something better: a reminder of why we started The Main in the first place.
If you were there, you already know. If you weren’t—scroll through and see what it looked like when a local magazine invited its city to show up, and the city actually did.
Thanks so much to everyone who came out!
Photos by Marie Rousseau:
Photos by Pierre Magallanes:
Photos by Philip Tabah:
There’s something about seeing it all in one place—faces familiar and new, spritzes in hand, records spinning, plates passing from kitchen to crowd. This photo gallery doesn’t just capture the block party.
It captures the thing we’ve been quietly building since our first articles and newsletters: a community of collaborators, characters, and readers who give a damn.
On July 20, 2025 that community came to life at Bar WILLS, where Montreal showed up hard. JoJo Flores and DJ HIDI set the tone with warmth and deep cuts. La Spada fed the soul with dishes like focaccia dressed up with peaches and tomato, arancini, and cacio e pepe popcorn.
Writers meeting readers, neighbours swapping stories, chefs, artists, and DJs trading notes—it was a beauty of a day. We said we were throwing a party, but what happened was something better: a reminder of why we started The Main in the first place.
Free account required
For readers who care about Montreal
Create a free account to read this story and access 3 articles per month, plus our weekly Bulletin.
![[PHOTOS] A Look Back at The Main's First-Ever Block Party](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F2edxk5v7%2Fproduction%2F19c9b2bf4392d7dc187e0d11ca1e91483f43e905-2050x1367.jpg&w=2560&q=75)
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