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).
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).
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
Pour ceux qui ont Montréal à cœur
Créez un compte gratuit pour lire cet article et accéder à 3 articles par mois, ainsi qu'à notre Bulletin hebdomadaire.
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
Pour ceux qui ont Montréal à cœur
Créez un compte gratuit pour lire cet article et accéder à 3 articles par mois, ainsi qu'à notre Bulletin hebdomadaire.
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.
When Richard and Shuping Guo bought Hochelaga's Dépanneur Populaire in 2001, they got more than a corner store. Their daughter Angelina's new book tells the rest of the story.
Philippe Spurrell keeps rare prints out of dumpsters while Robert Miniaci reinvents the projectors that screen them. Together, they're proving the old ways still have life in Montreal.
The festival’s first wave mixes legacy acts, internet-era names, and a familiar attempt to prove Montreal’s comedy institution is firmly back on its feet.
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.
When Richard and Shuping Guo bought Hochelaga's Dépanneur Populaire in 2001, they got more than a corner store. Their daughter Angelina's new book tells the rest of the story.
Philippe Spurrell keeps rare prints out of dumpsters while Robert Miniaci reinvents the projectors that screen them. Together, they're proving the old ways still have life in Montreal.
The festival’s first wave mixes legacy acts, internet-era names, and a familiar attempt to prove Montreal’s comedy institution is firmly back on its feet.
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