"I was always looking at different types of fundraising for the AIDs Foundation and I could see this had potential, so it all started to click. We've never moved away from that," says the events manager and former chair of the New Zealand Aids Foundation, who has lived with HIV for almost 20 years.
Smith says the event has been welcomed in a much wider group than the gay community over the years.
"It's about bringing communities together. When I put the call out there for cast members, yes, I primarily had gay men, because gay men are associated with drag. However I also had lesbians coming in asking me if they could play a beauty, and I said, 'Yeah why not, we'll give you a slight male makeover then we'll put drag on top of it'.
"So then I started getting straight people, men, wanting to come in just for the sheer fun of it, along with straight women. They all wanted to be involved; they'd heard it was a fun event. So I said, 'Come on board'.
"What I'm trying to do is lift people's artistic ability, and you see their confidence, everything changes. to rise on new showCrowd favourites are the show's extravagant head dresses.
A lot of them are exceedingly nervous, a lot have never been on stage before, let alone in a pair of heels and a wig."
A lot of work goes into the dressing up, too. It takes Smith around three hours to become Bimbo, a process he is halfway through when the photographer visits.
In the event's first year Smith says two cross-dressers took part who had only ever dressed as women in the privacy of their own homes. "They became part of a cast of 45 so they weren't individualised. It was a safe environment."
Smith says creating that protected space in which people can express themselves has also been an important part of the show.
"Doing that was key for me, because there are some people out there, young people, who are coming to terms with their sexuality, people in their 40s and 50s ... and where do they go, what do they do? This has created a really safe environment where people come into this group all with one purpose: to put on a show."
The show has always been a spectacle of sparkles and laughter, with contestants given an outline of costuming requirements then left to their own devices.
Part of the pageant has been an adaptation of the traditional Miss Universe national costume section.
"We do the headgear of the nations," says Smith. "It's become one of the major features of the show. We tried [national costume] but there wasn't enough comedy. So the rule is headgear can't be any more than two metres by two metres. Well, people went berserk. We've had the most amazing things over the years."
I ask about a photo of a gigantic elephant. "Oh, that would have been Miss India, I think."
Humour and fabulous costuming aside, Smith reiterates the show's raison d'etre is AIDs awareness, something he says in light of recent events has revealed a disappointing attitude.
"We've had really good treatments for the last 10 years, so the number of people dying has reduced hugely but, also, you're not seeing people walking around looking ill and sick.
"The medication's keeping people well and looking well and I think, therefore, almost, society's forgotten about it. That it's not a big issue anymore. Then all of a sudden something like the Northland HIV case [the 4-year-old boy with HIV excluded from a Whangarei childcare centre] happens and it's a reminder to people that it still exists here in New Zealand.
"Actually, the numbers in NZ are far greater than they've ever been. So I think it's a reminder to people, a wake-up call to people's social prejudice. It's around us all the time.
"When somebody's HIV positive and goes into a workplace, it's not even an issue. People that are positive are just getting on with it.
"I've got a chronic illness, I don't have a terminal illness like I did 10 years ago."
But some things must come to an end. Next month's Queen of the Whole Universe show will see the final curtain fall on a celebration of artistic ability and a merging of communities. But although the three-act stage show is winding up, Smith's already planning its next incarnation.
"I've been given funding and some support to rewrite it into a musical. So if you think of something like A Chorus Line meets Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, that could be it. We'll be back."
With wigs on.
WHAT Queen of the Whole Universe
WHEN Saturday, July 21, 8pm
WHERE ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre
HOW MUCH $20-$79, from www.the-edge.co.nz
WEB www.queenwholeuniverse.com
