If the July 3 release of Confessions II didn’t make it clear enough, Pride Month isn’t over yet! And the place to be this weekend is St. Louis, Mo.
On Saturday (July 11), WerQfest returns to The Atomic Pavilion by Jamo for its seventh year, headlined by RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 winner Onya Nurve and ascendant genre-fusing rapper Infinite Coles. Platinum-selling “Girls Gone Wild” rapper JT will also bring her burgeoning Club Cheetah era to the festival with a special guest appearance. Tickets are available at the festival’s official website.
“When I think about WerQfest, it’s not even just my wildest dream, but also our queer ancestors’ wildest dream,” says co-founder and CEO Tre’von Griffith. “They never had a space like this; they fought for us to have this space.”
Griffith co-founded WerQfest — alongside his husband, and the festival’s creative producer, Shelton Boyd-Griffith — in 2020 as an intimate Twitch stream, with the festival steadily growing year-over-year from virtual performances and socially distanced sets to a multi-stage, in-person affair. Past performers have included Grammy-nominated R&B singer and Broadway star Avery Wilson, ballroom icon Kevin Aviance, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 12 winner Jaida Essence Hall, and acclaimed alternative-R&B artist serpentwithfeet.
Notably, WerQfest was also the national festival headlining debut for Durand Bernarr, who picked up his first Grammy earlier this year for best progressive R&B album. “That was a turning point I think the whole community felt,” notes Griffith. “Every year since, we’ve actually been trying to top that year.”
Though its evolution has been somewhat unexpected, the upscaling of WerQfest has come naturally to the boundary-pushing couple. A former fashion editor, Boyd-Griffith frequently attends music festivals, while Griffith earned his master’s degree in global entertainment and music business from Berklee College of Music. Those backgrounds allowed the duo to navigate the cutthroat booking world as the co-heads of a niche micro-festival — while remaining steadfast in their commitment to serving and uplifting their hometown.
“This is our love letter to our hometown,” says Griffith. “Right now, almost 80% of the lineup is local, and we’re using the nationally recognized talent to help amplify them. A lot of these artists are ready for a stage; they just haven’t been given the opportunity. We want to build a pipeline for artists to make this a viable career, which is something I dream that a lot of artists get a chance to experience. I had the privilege of doing it for over 10 years; it’s hard, but you need experience and opportunities.”
An artist in his own right, Griffith releases music under the stage name Tre G. His dance- and R&B-rooted catalog consists of a pair of albums: 2016’s I’m Back and 2019’s As I Am. He has also served as music director for two productions at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, including Alan Menken’s A Christmas Carol in 2022 and Stephen Sondheim’s Side by Side in 2023.
“JT was really excited to work with us; we love Onya Nurve, and she’s very pro-Black; and Infinite Coles is an amazing Black, queer shapeshifter,” Boyd-Griffith adds. “Together, those three represent so much. And because festival culture is led by the big names now, we had to figure out how to carve out our own space.”
This year, St. Louis-made artists set to play WerQfest include TreHitz, Kristopher Lay, Lala Ahmir, Meadow Grace, K. Rush, and DJs Rico Steez, Nyara and Maxa. From Black punk acts to house DJs and drag performance artists, this year’s lineup is “reflective of the whole totality of Black creativity,” as Boyd-Griffith puts it. Over 100 artists submitted themselves for performance consideration this year, making 2026 the biggest year yet for the festival’s self-submission process.
With DJ-in-residence DJ PBNJEFFY soundtracking the day between sets, WerQfest 2026 will also feature a curated beat battle presented by Volume Speaks and sponsored by Fresh Produce and Vanessa Frost’s Frosty Revue. In addition, designer Brandon Blackwood, the Department of Health and MISTR all return as sponsors. And, of course, “afters” are in store. Branded “Afties,” the official WerQfest 2026 afterparty will be presented in partnership with dance collective Let’s F—ing Dance.
“When I first started this and brought the idea to Shelton, it was just something to do with my friends,” remembers Griffith. “It’s great how something you’re doing out of your heart can turn into something else when you realize that maybe there’s a void that needs to be filled.”
In an era rife with redundant festival sets that often overlook rising and independent Black and queer artists, WerQfest is a shining example of what community-building can look like. Moreover, the festival’s dedication to St. Louis also helps refocus cultural conversations that prioritize the coastal branches of underserved and overlooked communities, often at the expense of those in the Midwest.
“The community is still the No. 1 asset,” stresses Boyd-Griffith. “It’s about creating a safe space for Black queer folk to come, love, dance, celebrate, be seen and express themselves.”
