North Carolina Democrat congressional candidate Jamie Ager’s family business hosted a 2019 fantasy festival promoted to families and children that featured the Beer City Sisters, a group that described itself as “21st Century nuns” and has hosted recurring “Drag Comedy Show” events.
Ager, the Democrat running in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District against Republican state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, is the CEO and co-founder of Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview, North Carolina. Hickory Nut Gap Farm’s website describes him as a fourth-generation family farmer who, alongside his wife, Amy, has built the business.
Ager has sought to campaign as a Western North Carolina farmer and a “commonsense Democrat” in a district President Donald Trump carried by nearly 10 points in 2024.
Ager is running a television ad that talks about how he and his wife host monthly barn dances on their property, while his business has also featured drag performers at an event that encouraged children to attend and included activities geared toward them.
On May 4, 2019, Hickory Nut Gap hosted its six-hour “Fantasy Festival at the Farm,” which was open to the public and drew about 1,500 Facebook responses. Organizers encouraged attendees to “put on your fairy wings or Vader helmet” and advertised interactive games for all ages, a costume contest for those 13 and older, and a separate contest for children 12 and younger.
Tickets were specially priced for children, with day-of admission at $13 for ages 13 and older, $9 for children five through 12, and free admission for children four and younger. A separate flyer advertised presale tickets at $10 for ages 13 and older and $5 for children five through 12.
The event listing also advertised “Interactive Games for all ages.” The schedule included a “Dragons, Princesses & Knights Game” for all ages at 4:30 p.m., a “Frog Lord Game” for all ages at 5:30 p.m., and a “Youngling Costume Contest” for children 12 and younger at 6:15 p.m.
Hickory Nut Gap specifically promoted the Beer City Sisters ahead of the festival in an April 11, 2019, Facebook post.
“Perhaps the most benevolent of all our guests, we are honored to have the Beer City Sisters, Abbey of All Souls joining us!” the farm wrote.
The post described the group as “altruistic nuns” whose mission was to “promote and celebrate diversity, social awareness, universal joy, and eradicate the stigma of guilt.”
“The sisters serve our local community through the use of self expression and irreverent humor for advocacy, education, outreach and philanthropy! And they look fantastic doing so!” the farm added, ending the post with rainbow emojis.
At the time, the Beer City Sisters described itself as a “Fully Professed House of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” and “a group of 21st Century nuns dedicated to the promulgation of universal joy and the expiation of stigmatic guilt.”
“Our ministry is one of public manifestation and habitual perpetration. No more guilt!” the organization said in its 2019 description.
The group said Sister Margarita del Encanto and Guard Chester Cub founded the Beer City Sisters in July 2016 after moving from Jacksonville, Florida, where they had been associated with the First Coast Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
A May 2019 Instagram post from the Beer City Sisters showed name tags for members bearing names including “Sister Domina Trix,” “Guard Stoney Munchkin,” “Sister Helen Bedd,” “Sister Beandra Fulkenwider” and “Sister Anita Felching.”
“New name tags means new members! Our Abbey keeps growing!!!” the organization wrote, adding hashtags including “universaljoy,” “expiatestigmaticguilt,” “sistersofperpetualindulgence,” and “asheville.”
A June 2019 post from the group showed members in costume and described a performance at a “communionsunday.”
The post said the group had publicly veiled a new postulant, welcomed a transfer, and “black (gold) veiled our newest Fully Professed Sister Wilma Holeburn.”
The Beer City Sisters also promoted a recurring “Drag Comedy Show,” writing, “If you are not at @banksavebar every 3rd Sunday of the month you are missing the only Drag Comedy Show in town!”
Ager’s campaign also made a $5,000 contribution to Blue Ridge Pride, according to its third-quarter Federal Election Commission filing. Blue Ridge Pride says its vision is to create “a vibrant, inclusive community where all LGBTQIA2S+ individuals in WNC experience belonging and live with dignity, equity, hope and joy.” Its website also features photographs of drag performers in the presence of children.
Ager has advocated for universal healthcare and backed renewable energy policies, saying in a previous interview that “there’s no question” renewables are needed to “get climate change under control.” North Carolina electric cooperatives have estimated the state’s renewable-energy mandate could drive hundreds of millions of dollars in additional compliance costs over 15 years, while French Broad EMC, which serves Ager’s home area in Buncombe County, charges members an “NC Renewable Energy Recovery Fee.” Ager is endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, and GiveGreen calls him “committed to bold climate action” and says electing him could help create “a pro-environmental majority in the House” and make it “easier to pass climate change legislation at the federal level.”
He comes from a family with longstanding ties to North Carolina politics. His grandfather, Jamie Clarke, served in both the North Carolina House and U.S. House, his father, John Ager, served in the state House from 2014 to 2022, and his brother, Eric Ager, was elected to a neighboring state House district in 2022. Ager attended Warren Wilson College, where he met his wife; the school calls itself “radically inclusive” and promotes a “progressive promise for all” and “climate forward experiential learning.” Its Work Program requires students to perform labor alongside their coursework, while a Reddit discussion cited in previous coverage called Warren Wilson a “communist-friendly college.” Longtime professor Han Dongping also wrote for China Daily, including columns praising Xi Jinping and Chinese Communist Party discipline enforcement.
Ager’s wife works at Warren Wilson as executive director of strategic ventures and has been reported as earning $136,000.
He will face Republican state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom in November after she was selected to replace Rep. Chuck Edwards, who ended his reelection campaign amid a House Ethics Committee investigation. Balkcom, a two-term state representative, has called herself a “Henderson County farm girl” and said her family has lived in Western North Carolina for eight generations.
Ager has been endorsed by former Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and has said immigration has “benefitted this country in so many ways” while supporting consideration of a “pathway to citizenship” for people who have lived in the country without legal status for decades.