Burlington vt gay bars
Home / gay topics / Burlington vt gay bars
The population of East Montpelier is so small that the owners cannot afford to focus on just one demographic.
“There’s enough people in the city and enough queer people to go to those bars that you can make it work, and they do, but here there’s just not enough people to do that,” Cain said.
At the same time, Dunton said the bar prioritized people in the LGBTQ+ community, even at the occasional discomfort of people who may see things like its LGBTQ+-based decor from an outsider’s perspective.
“I think it’s OK for people to have momentary discomfort and think about that and think about why they have that feeling,” they said.
The far wall is taken up with a massive window nook with a view of a neighboring field.
“Mainly what we are is a place to meet up with friends,” said Dunton, the Fox Market co-owner. An upper level covered in knotty pine served as a pool room full of little nooks to hang out in.
“Depending on what they’re feeling, they want to go dance, they can dance, (or if) they want to, play pool or sit and have conversation,” they could do that, too, he said.
“A coffee shop would be fabulous.”
Where everyone can come on in
At Babes Bar in Bethel, the social calendar of rural LGBTQ+ people could be judged in the number of miles customers travel to attend the bar’s “Queer Dance Nights.”
They attract people from Montpelier, Rutland, White River Junction and even far-flung Bennington, co-owner Owen Daniel-McCarter said.
The bar is located in a two-story brick building in downtown Bethel, along the White River.
The event features stunning performances from local and visiting drag artists. Located just slightly south of the lgbtq+Q-friendly mecca of Montreal on the eastern shores of Lake Champlain, Burlington is a progressive, welcoming, and diverse city where all can find their place and feel at home.
Burlington is a treasured lakeside city in Vermont attracting the lgbtq+Q community all seasons throughout the year.
The small pub-and-store combination proudly calls itself a “queer bar” and hangs a rainbow flag outside its doors.
Babes Bar in similarly small and rural Bethel does not call itself an LGBTQ+ bar, but it’s gained a reputation for welcoming that community. It's a colorful, inclusive event attracting visitors from all over New England and beyond.
2.
Yet the state’s small well of bars catering to LGBTQ+ people ran dry — until 2021.
Eight months ago, Fox Market and Bar opened in the tiny, rural community of East Montpelier. “A lot of teachers meet up (here) after school. “Those kinds of things are part of (the) cultural side of LGBTQ-ness that we learn from each other now.”
Although social media sites like TikTok have become great places to learn about LGBTQ+ identity and culture, Mattson said, there’s still something important about seeing people face-to-face and forming in-person relationships.
Socializing with others can be essential for their mental and physical health, too.
The space can be partitioned for smaller groups, events can occur while the bar is open to the public or the entire bar can be rented.
.
And it brought a lot of pain to us, the staff because we were just trying to make sure that we have a safe space for everybody.”Years later, in 2017, a Winooski bar owner ran into accusations of transphobia when he announced he would rebrand his bar Oak45 as a gay bar.
The location housed a Papa John’s pizzeria for many years and is now a tea shop.
There’s no LGBTQ+ bar in Burlington today, according to the people VTDigger interviewed, although several bars were noted as being especially welcoming to LGBTQ+ Vermonters, including Red Square and Radio Bean.
Bensel said the Pride Center has worked to connect LGBTQ+ people across Vermont through social events such as potlucks and Pride celebrations.
Muddy Waters: An inviting coffeehouse with a rustic, hip vibe.
The Rainbow Cattle Company in Dummerston shut down years earlier, and the iconic Andrews Inn in Bellows Falls had faded away decades ago.
But when 135 Pearl announced its closure — the owner cited the struggles of owning a small business — no one knew it would take 15 years to fill the gap it left for LGBTQ+ Vermonters.
In that time, the nature of LGBTQ+ rights and identity in Vermont shifted dramatically.
“I just could not understand our own discrimination that existed within that community. “And then, for the people for whom that makes them feel really welcome and laugh and feel like the space is theirs like that — that to me is so much more important.”
Cain originally hails from Oregon but has spent the past 15 years working for businesses such as Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier and AR Market in Barre.
They've hosted drag shows and lgbtq+Q+ friendly events in the past.
5. “And they feel so important.”
Finding your place in East Montpelier
Fox Market is located close to the intersection of Route 2 and Route 14 North, just beyond the town’s lone gas station and a general store. Single, dating, married?
It's a great spot to meet friends, have a coffee, and enjoy some of their fantastic baked goods.
7. In fact, they’ve been embraced by the East Montpelier community, which has become among their most loyal customer base.
“It’s sort of wrapped us in this bubble of love and protection,” they said.
Cain said that, months after opening, he still occasionally has customers come by who break down crying when they come into the store, overwhelmed by the power of finding a place that fits them.
“There’s some younger people, or some teenagers that are queer and have never been in a space that felt as warm and accepting and for them, and they just like, break down to us and say, ‘Thank you,’” he said.
Where did the gay bars go?
The closure of LGBTQ+-focused bars is a national phenomenon.