The Drag Queen Gala is synonymous with a night of great anticipation, when local, national and international carnival-goers gather in the enclosure or around the TV to watch the acts of the iconic drag queens competing in the capital of Gran Canaria, on 20 February at 9:00 pm, available on the RTVE and RTVC platforms
Afterwards, the city holds a great party that takes over the nighttime leisure spaces until 5:00 am: Manuel Becerra, Calle Poeta Agustín Millares Sall and Plaza de La Luz
The celebrations continue the next day with evening carnivals, concerts and more Carnival nights.
Wednesday 18 February 2026. The latest figure to occupy the Carnival throne is eagerly awaited: on the night of Friday 20 February, at 9 pm in Santa Catalina Park, a gala that has been touring the world for decades will take place: the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Drag Queen Gala.
Drag, with the authority vested in it by carnival-goers, has confirmed its position as the authentic figurehead of what is now a Festival of International Tourist Interest. It is the element that since 1998 has endowed carnival time in the capital of Gran Canaria with a personality of its own. And this is not the kind of drag that hit the screens after the success of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994).
Canarian drag queens do not wear high heels; they get up on towering platform boots to perform impossible choreography, captivating the audience with humour, executing pirouettes or challenging the established system, always with wit and ingenuity. Their costume changes are veritable transformations and stories. The choice and arrangement of musical numbers connects them directly with their essence and their followers. It is impossible not to be bowled over by the splendour of Canarian drag.
RuPaul himself was a guest artist in a gala that made a great impression on him, a curious visit that brought him up on stage in 2008. A year later, RuPaul Drag’s Race was born. Coincidence?
The night of the platform boots is now 28 years old, and today, as ever, the tickets are still snapped up within minutes of going on sale. The online box office was sold out in four minutes. The physical one lasted a little longer; every year, there are photos of queues of fans sleeping at the entrance waiting for it to open. They will witness the healthy competition between the twelve drag queens who secured a place in the final. Twelves stars, icons, almost mass idols.
The event is followed on television all over the world. This year, once again, the public channels RTVE and RTVC will be broadcasting it to a number of countries via their digital platforms. From 9:00 p.m. (GMT+0) you can watch the gala live, or you can also catch up on it at another time thanks to applications like RTVE Play or Canarias Play.
The festivities for the drag contest do not end there; throughout the weekend, the city will be celebrating in the street with concerts in Manuel Becerra, Plaza de La Luz and Calle Poeta Agustín Millares Sall, until 5:00 am. In addition, the Santa Catalina enclosure will host a morning session full of musical performances on Saturday 21 February, in a friendly, family atmosphere.
The organisers remind you that you can keep up to date with the agenda on both the Spanish and English versions of lpacarnaval.com, where details of each event are provided on the home page of each version.