Eureka’s Fall Diversity Weekend promises fun for all

(Eureka Springs, AR) Eureka Springs is capping an eventful year with their Fall Diversity Weekend, November 6-8. This year’s fall event promises to be great fun for all.

Eureka’s three Diversity Weekends (spring, summer and fall) feature several fun events and gatherings. In addition to the planned activities, there are parties and live music at some of the favorite gay nightlife spots in town. And Eureka always has great restaurants for dining, fabulous art galleries, and dozens of LGBT owned B&B to accommodate you. In addition, there are several classic resort town hotels in the most gay friendly city in the South.

Drumming in the Park is like an impromptu jam session with all kinds of drums. Bring your drum, rattle, bells or milk jugs and feel the beat in Basin Spring Park. This event draws hundreds of people to Basin Spring Park – all with good hearts and great fun. In general, they are all beating to the same rhythm, although once in a while you hear a lone drummer lost to the world beating to a different beat. There is no rehearsal, no scripted music, just doing your own thing.

Eureka Springs celebrated the return of legal same-sex marriages after the US Supreme Courts June 26 decision making same-sex marriage legal in all states. In 2014, Eureka had the first legal gay marriages in May after a state judge overturned Arkansas’ gay marriage ban.

The city, located in the Ozarks of Northwestern Arkansas, was the first city in the state to officially endorse same-sex marriage, and the first and only city in the state with a Domestic Partnership Registry. It is also the number one vacation destination in the Mid-South for out and proud LGBT travelers.

The antithesis of the redneck stereotype, the micro mecca has been a beyond-gay-friendly getaway for decades - long before out was in. How gay? So gay that one Gay Pride weekend won't do. So, spring, summer and fall, Eureka Springs celebrates a trifecta of Diversity Weekends that attract thousands of gay and lesbian gaycationers.

A microcosm of San Francisco, the mountain resort town has a disproportionately large gay population, dozens of gay-owned and gay-friendly B&Bs, hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, art galleries, shops, turn-of-the-century Victorian homes and vintage trolleys plying steep and narrow village streets.

Eureka Springs has a queer affinity not only for LGBT visitors but also for all manner of colorful characters, misfits, eccentrics and rugged individualists. Which is why, in addition to boatloads of gay vacationers, the three seasonal Diversity Weekends are among the most popular for hip heteros, too.

But make no mistake about it: Diversity Weekends are gay weekends. They are created expressly for gay and lesbian visitors and hosted by the town's gay and gay-friendly businesses and a small army of tireless volunteers.

Year after year without fail, these Spring, Summer and Fall celebrations pack the hotels, restaurants and nightspots by offering a wide variety of entertainment, amusement and diversion: Live music (from Newgrass to mellow jazz), DJ re-mix dance-til-you-drop parties, glam drag shows, pool parties, concerts, costume contests and special events.

To build stamina for these non-stop party weekends, organizers “highly recommend” mid-day disco naps.

The Gayly – November 3, 2015 @ 10:15 a.m.