click to enlarge - Eva Sollberger ©️ Seven Days
- Michael Hayes posing with a photo of Margaurite LeMay in 2021
On Sunday afternoon, Michael Hayes took a "walkabout" in his Burlington neighborhood. He strolled down Archibald Street and Intervale Avenue. Along North Winooski Avenue, he waved to friends at the Other Place, his favorite watering hole.
Next, Hayes visited the vintage clothing shop Old Gold, where he'd picked up countless garments over the years for his colorful alter ego, drag queen Margaurite LeMay of pioneering Burlington drag troupe the
House of LeMay. He said hello to a few people there, deploying his signature booming laugh. Then he headed back to the assisted-living facility where he'd lived since he had a stroke in 2019. Just a block from home, Hayes suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 66.
The following night, friends gathered at the Olde Northender Pub to commemorate the Burlington icon. Syndi Zook, known as Cousin Crystal in the glittering world of the House of LeMay, said she was surprised by how many people at the bar came up to the group to say they'd seen Hayes on Sunday. She called it a mystical experience — his last walkabout.
In the days following Hayes' death, Burlington Facebook feeds filled up with glamorous photos of Margaurite and the House of LeMay posing with various people at parties and events. Everyone, it seemed, knew Hayes, whether from his decades in the Burlington theater scene, from a bar stool at the OP, from his work as a talented costume designer, from his job at the fabric store Rags & Riches, from the hilarious Westaff commercials in which he played the “bad employee,” or, of course, from his three decades as a glamorous drag queen of the House of LeMay.
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- Amber LeMay, Cousin Crystal and Margaurite LeMay
Bob Bolyard, aka Amber LeMay, is Hayes' longtime friend and cofounder of the House of LeMay. He said it was “amazing [to see] the breadth of the community that [Hayes] has touched. Not just the gay community — an entire swath of the community that knows him either as Mike or Margaurite. He was very unique and so Vermont.”
Hayes was born on April 22, 1956, grew up in Chittenden County and studied costume design at Castleton State College (now Castleton University). He was a fifth-generation Vermonter — which, according to Bolyard, “gave him the right to say whatever the fuck he wanted to.”
Zook met Hayes in 1981 during a Lyric Theatre Company production of
Kiss Me Kate. She called him “a really fine actor, dancer, singer, an incredible performer from the very beginning.”
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- Bob Bolyard, Mike Hayes and Syndi Zook performing with the Vermont CARES Cabaret Players at 135 Pearl in the early 1990s
Bolyard met Hayes in 1988 during Lyric Theatre’s production of
Annie. Bolyard, Zook and Hayes all joined the Vermont CARES Cabaret Players, which raised money for Vermont CARES, an organization that formed during the AIDS epidemic to provide education and resources to people dealing with HIV, hepatitis C and substance abuse.
The House of LeMay was born on Halloween night 1992, when Bolyard and Hayes went to a party at Burlington gay bar 135 Pearl dressed as Amber and Margaurite LeMay. The LeMay “sisters” were housemates — but not roommates — for more than 20 years. In other words, Bolyard and Hayes were never a romantic couple, despite outward appearances.
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- Amber, Margaurite and Lucy Belle LeMay at Red Square in Burlington
In 1995, the sisters' “cousin” Lucy Belle (real name Johnnie McLaughlin) joined them from the Hot Damn Trailer Park in Beaver Pond, Vt. Zook and accompanist Craig Hilliard were also important members of the family.
“Margaurite brought so much love and character to our community," Zook said. "Michael took the rough edges off Lucy Belle, Amber and me.”
The LeMay trio conquered Burlington over the following three decades. Wearing colorful, hand-sewn costumes by Hayes, they raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and awareness for local charities. Year after year, the LeMays graced the Winter Is a Drag Ball, the Vermont City Marathon and the Seven Daysies awards party with their presence. They will keep performing without Hayes, they said, and use many of his costume pieces.
click to enlarge - Oliver Parini
- Amber LeMay, Mike Hayes and Lucy Belle LeMay at the 2019 Seven Daysies party
Asked what we should remember about his friend, Bolyard said, “His laughter. He would laugh at anything. Be free to laugh.”
Zook recalled of Hayes, “The stroke ravaged his physical body but did not change his inner light. He kept his laughing, smiling, beautiful nature and continued to be a gift to all of us. Four years after that initial stroke," she said, "that light stayed.”
A memorial for Hayes is planned for the spring. While his death has left many Burlington residents heartbroken, they will remember Hayes’ laugh, his colorful garb, his gift for gab and his big heart.