[1][2] Twenty-five contestants entered the first high heel drag race held outside JR's Bar & Grill (at 1529 17th St NW) on Halloween 1986.

The midnight dash went one and a half blocks to Annie's Paramount Steak House where the racers ran upstairs for a shot of schnapps, then down the stairs and back down the street to JR's.

He worked with the police to change the event to the Tuesday before Halloween, as a way of thinning the growing crowds.

[1][4][5] On the 25th anniversary in 2011, DC Mayor Vince Gray, served as grand marshal of the event.

The Albert Kennedy Trust, a charity that works for LGBT youth who are homeless or in hostile living environments, started the Annual Soho Drag Race in September 2011.