While wearing sparkling red glitter shoes and a dress decorated with Disney princesses, Miss Lossie Mouth entertained a packed crowd of nearly 100 children at Elgin Library.
After an hour of stories, singing songs, party food and making toy crowns, parents gave rave reviews about the drag queen story time.
The event had polarised opinion earlier in the week after being announced by Moray Council as part of Pride month.
Reports of protests outside the library failed to materialise, although it is understood some leaflets were distributed by some objectors outside.
Instead, youngsters aged from less than one year old to six enjoyed a morning of activities – with many parents reporting they had never seen the library so busy.
The library event was the first of its kind done by Miss Lossie Mouth, also known as drama teacher John Campbell, with some children staying behind after it ended for photographs with the performer, who lives in the Lossiemouth area.
Meanwhile, following the publicity this week, she has reported interest from other libraries and a theatre for hosting similar events.
The Press & Journal spoke to parents who took their children to the Miss Lossie Mouth event in Elgin, which featured stories exposing children to anti-racism messages, anti-bullying and same-sex parents.
‘Important messages from Miss Lossie Mouth’
Claire Vamosi and her husband Daniel took their two-year-old son Leo to the story hour.
The Elgin family reported seeing children up on their feet dancing through the session.
Claire said: “It was amazing. I thought it would be good for Leo just to be aware of diversity and stuff like that, and learning about through stories like he’s familiar with.
“The stories were really great, including one about two male penguins who have a baby. It’s good for him to grow up and be more accepting of others.
‘A really fun morning’
Krissy Martin attended with nine-month-old Teddy, who appeared exhausted after the story hour.
The Buckie mum reported it was standing room only inside with many people queuing up to try and get inside for the start.
She said: “We come to the library every Saturday as a family. In a way, it’s our safe space.
“We didn’t see any reason to change it today. It’s no different from going to see a pantomime or another show, it’s just something nice to do.
“Teddy was definitely getting into it. He was getting up and dancing and singing. There was absolutely nothing untoward about it at all, it was no different to Mr Tumble.”
‘Never seen Elgin Library so busy’
Forres councillor Scott Lawrence attended with his five-year-old daughter Ella, who clutched a toy crown after the event.
He said: “We often go to the events in the libraries, both in Forres and in Elgin. We didn’t see any reason to do anything different with this one, it’s the busiest one we’ve been to.
“Miss Lossie Mouth was very entertaining, everyone seemed to have a good time.
“There was lots of dancing with stories about inclusion and acceptance, which I think is important to introduce to children.”
Emotional day for Miss Lossie Mouth
Following the Elgin library event, Miss Lossie Mouth paid tribute to the show of support in the room after admitting to being “incredibly nervous” before the event.
Moray Council called out “offensive” abuse on its social media pages after it announced the story hour.
Following the event, Miss Lossie Mouth condemned abusive comments this week as homophobia while saying critical comments from politicians, including local MP Douglas Ross, feed into “conspiracy theories and moral panic”.
She said the character, based on Mrs Doubtfire, followed a long UK tradition of age-appropriate drag acts, including Lily Savage and Dame Edna Everage on mainstream TV.
She added: “I could have read these three books today and done all my singing and dancing as 42-year-old man John the teacher, but that would have been very boring.
“But as Miss Lossie Mouth I’ve developed this character that is basically your mum’s best pal or your favourite aunt to make it more entertaining and engaging.
“The malicious comments have been incredibly hurtful. I think it’s moral panic coming from America, and the fact that Moray has got itself in this situation over a drag queen reading stories when there’s a far right demonstration in Elgin next week is actually horrific.”
Conversation