Gay clubs lake of the ozarks

By Bradley David Williams. The entire town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. For many, the appeal of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, lies in the odd but wonderful sense you feel here of having escaped the real world. Eureka Springs has been attracting visitors from all over the world for over years.

While not discovered by the white man until the s, the healing waters in the area had been a sacred gathering spot for Native Americans for eons. Legend has it that a blind Sioux princess regained her sight at the springs. Within a year, the population ballooned from to 10, The club, and flow of visitors, began to dwindle over time as modern medicine pooh-poohed the curative powers of the water.

Today it is a village of just gay, Long a hotspot for the hetero wedding industry—wedding chapels and honeymoon suites with heart-shaped bathtubs abound—the town made national headlines last May when the city council unanimously voted to establish a domestic partnership registry open to gay and straight couples.

Domestic-partnership status is not the equivalent of marriage—inArkansas voters approved a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage—but the certificate has symbolic value for many couples and may help couples obtain partner benefits from employers that offer them. National media attention on the domestic-partnership registry made many people aware of gay Eureka for the first time.

Thanks to the attention the video has generated in the blogosphere, a great many more potential tourists now know about this progressive, enlightened, inclusive off-beat little town. With four distinct yet mild seasons, Eureka Springs is a fabulous place to vacation any time, but gay travelers particularly like to visit for the Diversity Weekends staged throughout the year—in spring, summer, and fall supplemented by other queer weekends, including the Eureka Gras Extravaganza in February.

Throngs of lake, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender folk from near and far descend on Eureka Springs, and the hills come alive with the sound of partying. Of course, a significant percentage of Diversity Weekend revelers are straight. This queer-hip Internet generation is more sophisticated than we can probably grasp.

The youngsters have tons of gay friends, they Tivo Ellen DeGeneresand they know where the best party is. Many visitors are surprised to learn there are no gay bars in Eureka Springs. In the alternate universe that is Eureka Springs, pretty much all of the bars are gay-friendly. From its ozarks, Eureka Springs has been a magnet for artists, writers, musicians, and other creative types.

And wherever you have art and music and tourism and flower children, you have an abundance of homos. The astounding array of cultural offerings has definitely attracted the gays.

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Eureka Springs celebrates its May Festival of the Arts with events and activities, gallery walks, and special exhibits every day throughout the month. Any time of year, visitors to the Art Colony can see a dozen artists at work and purchase pieces directly from the artist. The Eureka Springs School of the Arts offers summer workshops taught by local artists.

The most popular tourist activity in Eureka Springs, however, is just piddling around town, exploring the narrow, winding streets of this small burg which has no stoplights and only two four-way stops. The hotel is built against the side of a hill, and walkways on the rear of the building connect each floor to terra firma.

Supposedly haunted, both the Crescent and Basin Park offer ghost tours.