Jul 04, 2008  |  By: ZACK ROSEN  | COMMENTS     

Despite the perception that Washington’s gays all flee for Rehoboth each summer holiday weekend, Independence Day in D.C. offers up a range of nightlife options and a crowd of partygoers to match.

“There is a general myth that holiday weekends slow down,” says Ed Bailey, owner of Town nightclub. “Our history has proven the opposite. Our events always increase in size over the [holiday] weekend. It makes more sense — come in on Thursday, party all weekend long, friends invite friends into town. Our experience would say that weekends like this are only increasing in size.”

This year, Bailey is unveiling a new event that he hopes will bring out the best, and maybe worst, of the city’s wannabe performers.

“This Town Has Talent,” a competition being held at Town on July 4, will take Washington karaoke to the next level. Similar to DC9’s “Crack,” “This Town” will award a prize of $1,000 to the contestant whom judges and the live audience find to be the most skilled. As of press time, there were already 12 confirmed acts, including, singers, musicians, first-time drag queens and even a striptease artist.

“It might not be unbelievable stellar talent,” says Bailey. “It might be entertaining because people think they are talented. We haven’t done auditions. We just wanted to bring people in and let them do whatever they wanted to do with some basic limits.”

If the party goes well, Bailey intends to host the contest on the first Friday of every month, where all the winners would compete at the end of the year for a larger prize.

APEX HOSTS A series of patriotically themed parties over the holiday weekend. The first of the Red, White and Blue-themed parties was the college night Red Party on July 3, where anyone wearing red received free admission. On Friday, July 4, and Saturday, July 5, the respective white and blue parties offer the same discount deal. The White Party features a performance by TitanMen porn star Kurt Wild, who will be signing copies of his films.

The next night, the Blue Party holds the biggest fanfare of the weekend. Kristina Kelly and company will stage a drag show at 11 p.m., and Apex’s manager Joey Oldaker will begin to deejay at midnight. Latin dance party Caliente will be held in the club’s east wing lounge.

“We’re just trying to draw more of a crowd,” says Oldaker. “There’s not a lot going on in town so we thought we’d try to be big and bold and make the best of it.”