Letta the Queen, left, and Ophelia Johnson pose on a snowmobile Feb. 15 at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Winter Extravaganza at Range Pond State Park in Poland. Photo courtesy of Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife

POLAND — As families wade through slushy snow and game wardens give fishing lessons to snowshoers and skiers alike, Ophelia Johnson struts toward her ice hole in heels.

They aren’t stilettos, to be fair. Johnson, a drag queen from Topsham providing entertainment and instruction at the Feb. 15 Winter Extravaganza at Range Pond State Park in Poland, said she chose her footwear in anticipation of snow and ice.

“I mean, we’re talking a sensible go-go boot,” Johnson said. “Those are all-terrain heels, you can do a lot in those.”

This is the second year that the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife asked Johnson and Letta the Queen, a Portland-based drag queen, to lead activities at the event, where activities included free ice-fishing instruction, snowmobiling practice, guided hikes, and knot-tying and cooking demonstrations.

Outreach Director Emily MacCabe said that the event is held on Maine’s Winter Free Fishing Weekend to make winter sports accessible to all residents.

“The event that we hold each year is designed to try to create an environment for people who maybe traditionally haven’t felt comfortable — for a variety of reasons, different barriers — spending time outdoors in the winter months,” MacCabe said.

One of those barriers can be lack of representation, Johnson said. She said that queer people, especially drag queens, are rarely seen participating in traditionally male-dominated outdoor sports like ice fishing.

“When you think of the outdoors, and in specific to ice fishing, you think of the boys’ club,” Johnson said. “It’s very much that kind of ingrained misogyny, whereas events like this help to show that it’s not just the guys that can go out and do that, it’s anybody.”

Attendees participate in ice fishing Feb. 15 at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife’s Winter Extravaganza at Range Pond State Park in Poland. Photo courtesy of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife

The event drew 500 participants, 150 more than the year prior, MacCabe said. Student groups, families and nature-inclined attendees went booth to booth, learning about Maine bird species and identifying animal furs.

In the parking lot, the department’s rainbow pride tent stood stark against the snow, rivaling even Letta’s bright blue outfit. Attendees milled around, overloaded with competing scents of roasting moose meat, egg waffles and hot cocoa.

The two drag queens met with guests around a campfire in the middle of the pond. Letta said some of her best interactions happened there, sitting in lawn chairs with a revolving door of community members.

“Ophelia and I sat out there, and we mingled, and we helped with different things, pointing people in directions,” Letta said. “I think the biggest part was really creating that community bond with the queer community and different marginalized communities of people who are ‘others.'”

The pair led a LGBTQIA+ Trail Mixer, a guided hike around the pond organized through the nonprofit Queerly ME. Later, Johnson taught a cooking class on the ice, showing a growing crowd how to make smoked salmon ravioli from scratch.

The pasta dish is rooted in her Italian upbringing, Johnson said, but salmon wasn’t always the plan.

“I was originally going to do lobster,” Johnson said. “But my husband was like, ‘You know what? You need to realize that it’s called ‘Inland’ Fisheries & Wildlife. Lobster is the coast.'”

Johnson, who is a culinary arts teacher, said it was her first time cooking in drag. She started doing drag nine years ago when she realized she could be the producer, director, costumer and makeup artist of her own creative performance, deciding who Ophelia Johnson is and what she brings to the world.

On Feb. 15, it was salmon ravioli. The cooking demonstration was one outdoor skill that guests could take home with them that day, alongside wildlife identification and fly tying.

Attendees learn how to tie knots Feb. 15 at the Winter Extravaganza at Range Pond State Park in Poland. Photo courtesy of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife

Letta, who is from Midcoast Maine, said she was fortunate to learn a host of outdoor skills growing up. Many queer people don’t have the same opportunity, she said.

“As a queer person who lived on a farm growing up in Midcoast Maine, I learned how to fish and I learned how to snowmobile and hunt,” Letta said. “I recognize that that is a privilege of mine, but a lot of queer people don’t have that relationship to the wildlife and don’t have the opportunities or the resources.”

MacCabe said that providing free fishing gear was one way to get beginners to try ice fishing for the first time.

The event also encouraged people to go outside and be active during the winter, she said.

“Winter time can be a difficult time of year for a lot of people, and not getting enough time outdoors can kind of make that worse for folks,” MacCabe said. “It’s just really nice to be able to hold something in the winter months where you can tell people just really need that extra bit of fresh air and sunlight.”

Seasonal mood shifts are common, but 5% of Americans experience seasonal affective disorder, a form of depression brought on by lack of sunlight that typically lasts 40% of the year according to the American Psychiatric Association. January and February are the most difficult months.

This winter has been particularly unsettling for many LGBTQ Americans. Based on executive orders from President Donald Trump, federal agencies are required to remove queer and gender-specific language and resources from their websites; the National Park Service, for example, removed all references to transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument web pages.

On Friday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills pushed back against the president’s executive order banning transgender athletes in women’s and girls’ sports. In response, at least two federal agencies that provide funding to the state launched investigations into Maine’s compliance — or noncompliance — with the order.

Johnson said that it is her role to be political and speak up when she sees the queer community and other minority groups come under fire.

“As a cisgendered white individual, I definitely have a responsibility to speak up for any minorities or any queer things that are happening in the world that need to be spoken about,” Johnson said. “And I’m not afraid to use my voice to help amplify other voices.”

While marches, rallies and protests are one way to do that, Johnson said doing drag and spreading joy at an event like the Winter Extravaganza can be just as powerful.

“Now’s the time, more than ever, to just allow people to experience queer joy, and if I can be a small part of that — bringing people together to make that happen — I’m totally in,” Johnson said.