A drag queen from the Bronx has gone above and beyond to keep the Bronx Pride Festival alive.

Bronx native Appolonia Cruz started her drag career performing in Miami in the early 90s and soon returned to the Boogie Down Bronx, where she became a face for the LGBTQ community.

"I felt like we needed more Latina drag queens, because when I came back to New York they had some drag queens, legendary ones, but I wanted to do something to take it to another level," she says.

When the Bronx Pride Center closed in 2012, Cruz took it into her own hands to keep its pride festival alive. In recent years, she's been directing and producing the annual festival and health fair in Crotona Park on her own -- solely relying on donations from the community.

Her work caught the attention of celebrity chef Margie, who partnered with Cruz to sell food for the first time at the festival.

The festival will be held Saturday, July 13 at 11 a.m.