Critical Mascara: A Post-Realness Drag Ball debuted last year at TBA, and was so well-received that it just might be a new festival tradition, filling the coveted Saturday night spot once occupied by Ten Tiny Dances. The Paris Is Burning-inspired drag contest features extravagant, glamorous, and occasionally downright bizarre performances from West Coast drag artists, and the whole thing is hosted with perfectly disaffected charm by Kaj-anne Pepper, who—hey!—we profiled in the first issue of Agenda.

Last year, the show took place in a giant warehouse; this year, an outdoor stage wedged into 3/4 of a closed-off street. Sightlines suffered, it was super packed, and it felt more like a show than a club—people pretty much packed in and stood still, rather than circulating. All of that said, it's pretty hard not to love this show.

The performers are competing for $666 and prizes hand-made made by Pepper herself. Each contestant gets two chances to walk and pose; the show is divided into three categories, "Fierce," "Shapeshifter Fantasy," and "Next Level Femme." I think last year's categories inspired more creativity, for whatever reason (I loved seeing last year's contestants riffing on the theme of "Hair") but this year offered some weird, memorable moments nonetheless—I really liked the two women dressed as a (sexy) centaur.

But honestly, there's no point writing more about this when we've got pictures.

Photographer Pat Moran has tons more photos on his Flickr page.