Carson Leonti is a total ham.

So it’s only fitting that he will dress as Miss Piggy to emcee the Tustin Tiller Days talent show on Friday, Oct. 6.

“I plan to make myself the joke,” Leonti said.

For example, one antic will involve scampering about the stage as he’s chased by a bacon-lover.

The 21-year-old Irvine resident relishes clowning around in feminine attire. For the past two years, he has supplemented his income as a waiter by performing comedy in drag at gay clubs all over Southern California.

However, the opening night of Tiller Days will mark Leonti’s first-ever appearance before a mostly heterosexual crowd.

“I’m both excited and nervous,” he said. “I don’t want to scare the kids.”

That’s why he decided to come as the lovable Muppet: “I adored Miss Piggy when I was a child.”

Now in its 60th year, the Tiller Days festival pays homage to Tustin’s agricultural heritage and small-town roots. Annual traditions include carnival rides, a big parade, bake-offs, dance troupes, school bands and the aforementioned talent show. Local nonprofits sell hot dogs, sodas and cotton candy.

How, exactly, do drag queens jibe with this slice of Americana — in a historically conservative city?

“It’s a wonderful way to celebrate diversity and how far Tustin has come,” said TyRon Jackson, entertainment chair for the Tiller Days community stage.

Respected in the community for his work with at-risk children and homeless people, Jackson first approached Tiller Days liaison Christine Zepeda with his idea.

“I told her I wanted to raise the bar and do something out of the box this year,” Jackson recalled. “She looked at me and said, ‘Let’s do it!'”

Other volunteers seemed, at least momentarily, a bit more hesitant.

“When I brought up drag queens in a meeting, there was a silent pause for about 10 seconds,” Jackson remembered. “I said, ‘You have my word. Everything will be OK.’ Then they gave me their blessing.”

Larry Sample, 70, chair of the organizing committee for Tiller Days, was one who didn’t quite know what to make of the notion.

“I was a little shocked, but everybody else seemed to be OK with it so I went along,” Sample said. “I’m thinking a lot of people won’t figure out he’s a drag queen, per se. And kids won’t notice or care. Maybe the 80-year-old grandmom and grandpa will be offended.”

Tustin Councilwoman Letitia Clark, 35, who graduated from Tustin High with Jackson, agreed that “some of the more conservative members of the community might raise an eyebrow.”

Even so, Clark said, Jackson is so admired that “just about everybody will get behind anything he does, no matter how taboo it may seem at first.”

Jackson, a behavior interventionist for Tustin Unified School District, founded Operation Warm Wishes — which provides assistance to struggling families, including an annual Thanksgiving dinner in Peppertree Park and laundry services.

As a gay teen in a low-income family, Jackson endured taunts at school. Those experiences led him to spearhead anti-bullying and public awareness campaigns.

Subtly introducing a drag-queen shtick to the general population during Tiller Days is simply an extension of his efforts, Jackson said.

“My role as a gay man is to inspire people to be more compassionate,” he said.

Leonti remembers well the sense of alienation he felt at school and even at home when he was growing up in Riverside. His parents, both pastors, encouraged him to “pray the gay out” once they learned his sexual orientation, he said.

“I have come to terms with the fact that some people cannot understand what I’m going through,” Leonti said. “I realized that anger would destroy the kindhearted, sensitive person I am. It’s not worth it.”

He remains close to his father and mother – although they mostly avoid the “elephant in the room,” Leonti said.

“I invited my mom to come see me in a club, and she said, ‘Oh, Car, you know I’m not into that stuff!’” he said.

On a recent afternoon, Leonti demonstrated for visitors the two-hour process he undertakes before drag routines. He sat before a mirror in the apartment bedroom he shares with his boyfriend and rifled through a box chock-full of cosmetics.

First, he erased his eyebrows beneath multiple layers of powder applied with multiple swipes of a glue stick. This step alone required a good 30 minutes.

“How else am I going to hide my manly features?” he quipped.

Next, he coated his face with primer and foundation, drew new and ultra-arched eyebrows and brushed on bold degrees of eye shadow, liner and lipstick. Doing nothing in moderation, he attached three pair of false eye lashes with hair bonding glue.

“I’m painting a picture, making a masterpiece,” Leonti said.

He creates his costumes with thrift-shop clothing, hot glue and even toy parts. To craft the ears for his Miss Piggy ensemble, Leonti “butchered” a stuffed animal his boyfriend won for him at a carnival.

Leonti wanted to save his Miss Piggy getup as a Tiller Days surprise, so instead modeled a lace dress that started as a second-hand wedding gown. Underneath, he wore five pair of pantyhose that held in place foam padding on his rear end while concealing the hair on his legs.

Why doesn’t he just shave his legs and wax his eyebrows? Well, he explained, because he is not a woman.

“I’m a gay man,” Leonti said.

In drag, Leonti becomes alter ego Whisper.

“I feel a lot more comfortable expressing myself when I am Whisper,” he said.

But at Tustin Tiller Days, he will step out of the comfort zone he has developed at gay clubs.

What if someone in the audience jeers him?

“Well, I’ll just keep going,” Leonti said. “I can’t stop the show.”

There’s nothing to worry about, Councilwoman Clark predicted. For one thing, she pointed out, drag queens have become part of pop culture with the nine-season VH1 reality TV competition “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” For another, the times they are a-changin’.

“A new generation is coming up in Tustin,” she said. “Recognizing our diversity makes us all feel connected. Tustin Tiller Days is an institution in our city that celebrates both who we were then and who we are today.”

The 60th annual Tustin Tiller Days, a three-day celebration of the city’s farming heritage, takes place Friday, Oct. 6, through Sunday, Oct. 8, at 17522 Beneta Way and in Columbus Tustin Park, 14712 Prospect Ave. The event helps nonprofits raise money. The talent show begins at 8 p.m. Oct. 6 on the community stage. The parade gets going at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7. Other events include the Backyard Brewfest Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Information: 714-573-3326.