On Thursday night Code Pink, the LGBTQ+ dance night hosted by  OutOxford, Proud Larry’s and the Sarah Isom Center, will return for its fall season with a party celebrating thrift store scores.

Code Pink coordinator Blake Summers is asking people to show up in their most heinous Goodwill finds and strut through the bar like a Fashion Week runway.

“For one night on the square anyone can be anything- or who they really are,” Summers said.

The University of Mississippi alumnus, who co-founded OutOxford with partner Jonathan Kent Adams, is focused on welcoming anyone who feels like they don’t have a space on the square, beyond just the LGBTQ+ community, to participate in a night free of material obsession and status symbols.

“It’s not what you have, it’s who you are” has become Summers’ motto in planning the event, which will feature multiple DJs from the local LGBTQ+ community.

Doors open at nine with a cover charge of $5 for anyone over the age of 18, a fact that Summers is excited about because it enables him all young adults who may be looking for community and representation. There will also be a best-dressed competiton.

“Some people don’t have the exposure or the opportunity to see a positive queer identity in the South, and that’s what we’re trying to promote with Code Pink,” Summers said.

Proceeds from cover go towards Proud Larry’s, the DJs, queens, and dancers; what is left goes toward the Isom Center and OutOxford. Code Pink plans to use this money to fund its forthcoming “blowout” Halloween party at Larry’s that is being dubbed the “Babadook Ball.”

Summers, who studied psychology and theatre while at the University of Mississippi, was brought introduced to Code Pink by co-founder Matt Kessler to do a performance art piece to warm up the crowd. As Code Pink began to evolve Summers followed suit in taking on a bigger role with the event.

“It got more theatrical, more interesting- it started to involve political aspects,” Summers said. “It just became a theatrical dance night and community project essentially at that point for the LGBTQ+ community and everyone else involved.”

His outfit plans currently consist of a handmade shawl of stuffed-animal leopard hides and a canary-yellow church-lady hat.

Associate director of the Sarah Isom Center Theresa Starkey said that Summers and Adams are examples of UM alumni leadership at work in the community who are committed to making inclusive community spaces through the arts.

“It fulfills a need,” Starkey said. “It is for LGBTQ students, queer Mississippians, and all are welcome.” The UM Pride network and Proud Larry’s owner Scott Caradine also serve as creative partners for the events.

Starkey said that attendance has grown over the years and that it will often surpass 200 people, especially when the event is in conjunction with Pride Weekend.

“Its routinely the busiest shift I work,” said Jesse Bassett, who has manned the bar at Proud Larry’s for almost every Code Pink since he began working at the restaurant more than a year ago.  His first round of the event came just four days after his first shift at the bar.

“At the last one we had a dance performance that moved from the back stairs through the crowd,” Bassett remembered. He said that Adams and Summers will often be in as soon as dinner service ends at Larry’s to set up for the night.

Bassett said he works a packed shift, serving lots of cocktails like walk-me-downs and Long Island iced teas, but thinks that Code Pink provides a service to the community that otherwise wouldn’t be found.

“[There’s] lots of glitter and confetti to get swept up at the end of the night, but everyone’s just having a great time,” Bassett said.