Comedian Steve Moore celebrates Nations bartender Joe's $500 bid by dropping his pants.

After last night’s turnout at Gay Pride Virginia’s 2009 Date Auction at Nations, it looks like this charity function was recession-proof. Just $400 shy of last year’s total, the event raised $6,500 towards this year’s Pride festival and the organization’s scholarship program.

Barcode vixen Holly Lucas belts out a tune from Chicago.

Last year’s event was held at the now-closed Infuzion. According to GPV board member and secretary, Mike Maszaros, this is quite the success considering they were making the move to a smaller venue this year.

“Nations and the owners have been nothing but generous throughout the process,” he said.

Tyler gives Angelica Spaulding a dance she won't forget.

The event started at 6 p.m. with a cocktail meet-and-greet with those on the auction block. Angelica Spaulding warmed up the crowd with her rendition of Whitney Housten. Members of the community including Esta Bunny, Jay Squires of the Gay Community Center of Richmond, Babes of Carytown owner Vicky Hester, and comedian Steve Moore introduced the night’s dates. A few drag performances, a musical number and a little striptease courtesy of some of the auctionees spiced up the evening.

$3 Bill Ryan shows his manliness by lifting queen mistress Esta Bunny across the stage.

The auction stopped for a few minutes after a young lady fell during Kevin from LuLu’s strut down the runway. A crowd quickly surrounded her while the music was turned off, house lights were turned on, and the crowd was asked to move back. An ambulance was called and was on the scene within minutes. Once EMTs got her onto the ambulance for treatment, the show resumed.

To see who went for what, check out our Twitter. Our fingers are still recovering from all that tweeting.

What’s the next fundraiser up for Gay Pride Virginia? Drag Dodgeball, of course, with more details to come.

We’ve got more photos of the event in our Flickr Pool. We’re sure you’ve got some that you’d like to add too. GayRVA readers can go and upload photos for possible use in future GayRVA posts. Register on Flickr, go here, and click “Join This Group” on the top right. Hit “send to group” on the photos you’d like to add. New photos added to the pool also show up on the right side of our homepage at GayRVA.com.