There are touches of decor that hint at the joint’s target demographic, such as a ceramic plate with two penises crossed in an X, but they often go unnoticed by the bar’s patrons.
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So it's definitely more of a meeting place and more of a comfortable hangout space.” A lot of groups of people meet up after work. “A lot of teachers meet up (here) after school. “Mainly what we are is a place to meet up with friends,” said Dunton, the Fox Market co-owner. The far wall is taken up with a massive window nook with a view of a neighboring field. The walls are lined with bookshelves filled with graphic novels and board games. The furniture is a mishmash of antique tables, chairs and couches. The space is warm and cozy, with just enough seating for 20 people. Or they can turn left, which leads them past a counter to order a drink and up the stairs into the bar’s seating area. Upon entering the building, patrons have the option to turn right into the market, which features a wall of wines, a selection of cheeses and a few daily deli specials. Cars whiz along the thoroughfare between Montpelier and the Northeast Kingdom.įox Market and Bar in East Montpelier opened last year. “And they feel so important.” Finding your place in East Montpelierįox 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. “Dedicated spaces that you'll go and find other people in your community and be safe and welcome and prioritized are really challenging to find, or at least I found them really challenging to find,” Fox Market co-owner Liv Dunton said. Both venues’ owners are trying to revive the tradition of such spaces in Vermont - but they’re also rethinking what it means to be an LGBTQ+ bar in the first place. The small pub-and-store combination proudly calls itself a “queer bar” and hangs a rainbow flag outside its doors.īabes Bar in similarly small and rural Bethel does not call itself an LGBTQ+ bar, but it’s gained a reputation for welcoming that community. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerĮight months ago, Fox Market and Bar opened in the tiny, rural community of East Montpelier.
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Yet the state’s small well of bars catering to LGBTQ+ people ran dry - until 2021.Ĭo-owners Liv Dunton, left, and Doni Cain assist customers during Movie Night at Fox Market and Bar in East Montpelier on Saturday, March 26. Vermont now has among the highest rates of LGBTQ+ people in the nation, according to a University of California-Los Angeles survey, with those age 18 to 24 most likely to identify themselves as such, compared with other age groups in Vermont. In 2009, the state became the first to legalize same-sex marriage by legislative action and passed bills protecting LGBTQ+ people against discrimination. In that time, the nature of LGBTQ+ rights and identity in Vermont shifted dramatically. The Rainbow Cattle Company in Dummerston shut down years earlier, and the iconic Andrews Inn in Bellows Falls had faded away decades ago.īut 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. Shooka Dooka’s in Rutland closed weeks before. In spring 2006, Vermont’s last bar catering to the LGBTQ+ community, Burlington’s 135 Pearl, closed its doors for good. “And we bring that to how we run the space, which I do think makes it different than a lot of other bars in just how it feels inside.” Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Babes isn’t a “queer bar,” or at least it hasn’t marketed itself as such. “But obviously, we're queer folks,” said co-owner Owen Daniel-McCarter, not pictured. Vermont has a new generation of bar owners who are redefining what it means to be a “gay bar,” including Babes Bar in Bethel, shown on Friday, April 1.