Massachusetts lesbian bar makes frantic effort to find new owners after relaxing masking policy

A Massachusetts lesbian bar that went viral for loosening its Covid mask policy last month announced plans to “soft close” on Monday as it seeks new ownership.

The Last Ditch bar, in the small city of Greenfield, said in an Instagram post that it was searching for co-owners, new owners or a full sale, and that it would “soft close effective immediately”, with “only booked events” continuing while it closes this winter. It had opened just last year as a bar for “dykes, transsexuals, gender freaks, workers, and their friends”.

Last month the bar went viral following a Boston Globe story documenting a masking dispute after the owners attempted to relax the bar’s Covid mask-wearing policy for one night a week in a bid to drive up Saturday business. The bar had been struggling to raise revenue while adhering to a strict policy of mask-wearing, but the proposed change prompted a backlash from customers who accused the owners of ableism and abandoning immunocompromised people.

There was then a backlash to those critics, with people piling on and mocking customers’ concerns about contracting Covid.

The publicity did also attract some support to the bar, but evidently, not enough. “We put our lives on hold to foster networks of care, resources and a home base for organizing. It’s time we pass it on,” the bar said on Instagram.

“We’ve been fighting since the beginning to fill out the team, and we still don’t have a board/leadership to manage workers’ owned co-op transfer. We are soft closing effective immediately; all booked events will continue; otherwise, we are closed.”

In seeking new ownership, the bar noted that the sale would include the furniture, equipment, inventory and social media pages, to an estimated value of $70,000.

As set out in the Globe’s article, the bar was already in financial trouble before the masking furor, and two of the three original owners had dropped out of the project. The remaining owner was left with the responsibility of repaying the $50,000 loan the three took out to open the bar and was living out of her truck and working several jobs to try to keep it running.

The Guardian has reached out to the Last Ditch bar for comment.