In this Saturday, May 13, 2017 photo, Lil Miss Hot Mess poses for a photo with a child after reading to a group of children during the Feminist Press’ presentation of Drag Queen Story Hour! at the Park Slope Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, in New York. “Drag queens and children don’t usually get together, which I think is a shame and one of the benefits of a program like this,” Lil Miss Hot Mess said. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

From the looks of it, for a growing number of parents and their kids, story time is a real drag.

As reported by The Daily Caller, at the LINE Hotel DC community center in the District of Columbia’s Adams Morgan, more than 50 people gathered to sing songs with and hear stories from Cake.

And I don’t mean chocolate or pound.

Cake’s your friendly neighborhood drag queen who — as per TDC “spoke in a deep voice and was dressed in silver high heels, a flowing pink wig, elaborate makeup and a glittery leotard outfit that exposed most of [his] legs.”

The Daily Caller News Foundation conversed with Cake after the show, and here’s what he had to say:

“For me, growing up in like my time versus like now, it’s like pretty cool that we’re able to expand everyone’s horizons and show things that kids haven’t seen before.”

The event began with a song — “The More We Get Together.”

Following that was a reading from the book The Snowy Day.

Two other books led to a rendition of “If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands.”

Get ready to sing along:

The extravaganza took place in part courtesy of the DC Public Library.

And it ain’t the first one, as you’re likely well aware.

The events are usualy around 45 minutes in length and are generally for tykes between 3 and 8.

As pointed out by the Caller — this may come as quite the surprise — Drag Queen Story Hour began on the West Coast.

But now it’s everywhere, baby!

And for that, Cake says, “Great.”

Here’s a sweet food made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, that is usually baked:

“I think it’s good that people are open. It’s of course optional for anyone that wants to bring their kids to it. I think it’s great to see these opportunities popping up.”

Some of the parents came to introduce their children to new ideas.

One such was mom Ellen Nassey, who brought her 9-month-old. She likes it ’cause it gets everybody in one place:

“It just sounded like a really fun event, different things to do on a Saturday morning. It’s nice to find things that bring the local community together.”

Marisa Kline’s all about it. She roped in her 1-year-old daughter, Matilda:

“This is my second one that I’ve brought her to. As she gets older, she pays more attention, loves the stories and so yeah we will keep coming.”

Marisa loves the “inclusivity.”

It’s one of the reasons she lives in the neighborhood:

“[W]e like the diversity and the community.”

And she “would fundamentally disagree” with anyone who says it ain’t good to take kids to Drag Queen Story Hours.

So No on the diversity?

Naw, she’s totally diverse:

“I think giving kids as many perspectives on the world is really important and I think that drag queens in particular teach kids positivity and acceptance. Those are absolutely values I want to pass on to my daughter.”

Another excited mom is Meg Dominguez, who had her 1-and-a-half-year-old, Evangeline, in tow:

“It’s a great opportunity and way to show different diversity and expose kids to different ways of self-expression.”

After the story and songs, Cake posed for pics with interested parties.

As with Santa Claus, sometimes kids are uncomfortable. But the high-heeled dessert gets some good responses, too:

“I’ve gotten like really good reactions, like, ‘Oh, you’re so pretty…'”

With the ubiquity of the internet, I’m kind of surprised libraries are still around. I guess it’s like movie theaters competing with living-room big screens: You gotta give the people some Added Value (vibrating seats, in-theater dining, etc.).

I used to think of the public library as the dullest place in the world. But these days, it’s downright fabulous.

-ALEX

See 3 more pieces from me:

Protest Erupts at a Washington Drag Queen Story Hour, & One Claim Seems Too Insane to Be True. Is it?

FAIL: Public Library’s Drag Queen Story Hour Participant Was a Convicted Child Sex Offender

Smaller Towns Protest Drag Queen Story Time, But Will That Stop the Movement?

Find all my RedState work here.

And please follow Alex Parker on Twitter and Facebook.

Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below. For iPhone instructions, see the bottom of this page.