Beloved burlesque performer from Dallas died in motorscooter accident Tuesday

by Sarah Blaskovich

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The public memorial is Sunday at LaGrange.

A to Zed Photo

This photo of Megan Margolies was taken about a week before the accident.

DEEP ELLUM — A 23-year-old Dallas woman died Tuesday after she test-drove a motorscooter and collided with a trailer. Megan Margolies was a part of the burlesque community in Dallas and a regular in Deep Ellum. She'd been saving up to buy her new scooter.

"I saw her excited about getting [the scooter], but I never felt the need to caution her, because you see so many people on them all the time. They're a staple," said Stephanie Hastings, a friend of Margolies and the organizer of her public memorial on Sunday.

Margolies posted on her Twitter account a photo of her piggy bank a few days before, showing how she was saving up for the scooter.

The accident occurred Tuesday at about 5:30 p.m., when Margolies made a U-turn on Abrams and collided with a trailer attached to a dump truck, police said. Margolies was transported to the hospital and later died.

In a Facebook post about Margolies' life, a family member said, "Megan worked as a hair dresser at Halo Salon in Dallas, and was a popular print model, and actress/dancer in a popular burlesque troupe who helped raise money for many benefits. She encapsulated the Wells beauty that is unmistakable, known for her beautiful eyes all of the Wells girls inherited from grandmother Florene Wells and a perfect face inherited from the Prasifka side of her family."

Hastings described her as loving, loyal, and generous. "She had a real zest for life, as cliched as it may sound. She was always out, she was an entertainer. She was that person in the room you were always happy to see," she said. She also recounted Margolies' thoughtful, quirky side, like the time she organized a topless bike ride around Deep Ellum when she found out Hastings was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Margolies' public memorial is Sunday at 7 p.m. at LaGrange. Her favorite band, The Rodeo Clown Dropouts, performs at 8 p.m., and it will be "lively, fun, the same way she liked," Hastings said. A memory book will be set up for friends to sign and will be given to the family.