Gay bars in Springfield, Ohio Part 2

Hello blog buds,
In my last post I wrote about Chances Bar in Springfield, Ohio. If you are stuck in Springfield, or want a change of pace, Chances is the best place overall to go.

Springfield also has the Why Not III bar. When I went there on a Saturday night, it had maybe a dozen people. Why Not has a pool table, and a juke box. It has a dance floor, but there was no live music that night.

It would be an ok place to take a gay man (there was one very butch lesbian couple there) if you wanted to talk a little. Because the people there are older, you’re not going to be too swarmed on if you’re there with someone.

Do not go alone unless you are really bold and like them old.

The club is slow. It’s not for young people (you define young) who are not interested in the older set.

The beer is really cold, though, so it has some redeeming qualities. Did not have to pay a cover, either. But to me it was creepy and I only stayed twenty minutes. Sorry, it was that dead.

If anyone knows of more things to do in Springfield, let me know and I will check it out.

Best, Bobby

Churches part one- Eternal Joy MCC

Hello Blog Buds,

Not everyone likes organized religion. I question the usefulness of it myself from time to time. But the experience of church has opportunities:

1. You can meet single men (and women) at church, who are confirmed gay.

2. Church activities often involve decent tasting food.

3. The spirit can touch you and open yourself emotionally in ways you hadn’t experienced in a while.

4. I have yet to find a gay bar open on Sunday mornings. BTW, if you know of one, doesn’t matter where, let me know where it is and I’ll post it here.

So, opportunities to meet gay men and women are possible on Sunday morning.

More on the church now. The church, Eternal Joy Metropolitan Community Church, is located in east Dayton, between Smithville and Woodman (If you’re local, you know where that is- if you’re not, you can google map it). It has services at 9 and 11:30 am on Sundays, which is a recent change from a 10:30 only service.

One thing that you notice when you walk in is that people are welcoming. They shake hands and hug if you want. They aren’t pushy, though, which is nice. My experience with straight churches is that either they let you go on your own altogether, or they are smothering. The folks at MCC have a nice balance.

The service is a protestant style with gospel oriented music and weekly communion. The music is prerecorded, which can be a bit of a turnoff for a traditionalist like me. But if I can get over it, anyone can.

The messages are timely, appropriate, and affirming. For a gay or lesbian who has struggled for years in a church that is not welcoming of them, I say find another church. God is everywhere.

There are single men and women at the church, but many people are coupled. I would say that ratio is similar to the ratio of married and single at a straight church. There is a nice mix. There was at least one nice guy (one in particular) who I will ask out if I am his speed. Most guys could probably make a connection there if they wanted to, women would have a slightly harder time.

They have singles, bible study, other social activities, which is nice to get to know people better- I’ll report on those when I do them.

One thing I’ll take away is a better sense that the gay community is about more than hooking up and drinking.

Ok, Gay bars in Springfield part one

There are two of them. For men, you can go to Chances, or Why Not III. For women, it’s Chances.

For those not from the Miami Valley, Springfield is a town of about 70,000 a half an hour northeast of Dayton.

Unless you live south of town (in that case, you can go to Dayton and Cincinnati for fun), Dayton and Springfield are considered “together” for the purposes of describing the greater Miami Valley.

In other words, people in Dayton and Springfield watch the same local TV stations. If you want to be part of a gay lib group, though, you have to go to Dayton.

That said, Springfield is ok, if you have to go there. It’s ok too for a short change of pace.

I am still hiding out from my soon to be ex (STBX), so I’m going to Springfield a while to hide out until the divorce is final. That’s my change of pace.

Back to the reviews of the bars.

When I review a bar, a few things are important to me. First, can a single gay be welcome? Are the people jerks, or will they be relatively open? Is there something to do other than drink? If there isn’t, man can that suck…

When you go to a bar in Springfield, Chances is the most entertaining if you are female or a male under 50 (maybe 45). If you’re male, over 45, don’t ever want to see or talk to a woman,  and pretty much only want to drink, go to Why Not.

Chances is open Thursdays – Saturdays. I’ve been there on Sunday on a three day weekend, and it was open.

They have a DJ with karaoke Th-Sa. If you want to be a full part of the group, sing a song (it does NOT matter how sucking your singing voice is). They have pool for a buck. They also have a jukebox for when the DJ shuts down, and a dartboard I haven’t seen used. There is also cornhole you can set up outside, and a basketball hoop, which comes in handy for getting to know someone one on one.

Like most places in Ohio, they have seating outdoors in a patio fashion for smoking and chatting. Be prepared to sit with someone, there are picnic tables.

The thing I like about Chances is once you sing a song, you’re in. It’s nice that most people there will talk with you, even if you’ve only been there once or twice. I think it’s because most people there realize it’s a small town and everyone has to get reasonably along for the greater good.  There are clicks, don’t get me wrong. But most people there are nice and reasonably sociable.

Carol owns and operates the bar. Could not be happier, she does a great job taking care of everybody and keeping the bar up. They have special events, like a fishing tournament, and drag revues.

Also, it’s nice because there is a decent representation of people- women and men, single and coupled, younger to middle aged (I’d say from 23 to about 53). I don’t have a boyfriend, but I could find one there (yes, I am more boyfriend minded than fuck minded, at least most of the time). I have one in mind already.

Next time, more on the Why Not… which is more appropriately named, Why Bother…

Hello blog buds!

Hi all,

If you’re reading this, you are probably wondering why in the hell there isn’t much more to do in Dayton than what is listed on this blog.

Because this is more a review blog than a list of things to do, I review them as I experience them.

I normally have to go, do or see something twice before I can write a decent review. That is just because I know that people are more open the second time you see them than the first.

That doesn’t mean I can never get a good impression of a place or activity the first time I see it, and I will share those experiences with you, too.

There are some good sites that post a relatively updated listing of gay activities, groups and entertainment in the Dayton, Ohio market. I will post links as appropriate, but most can be found via the Dayton Lesbian and Gay Center, Pflag- Dayton, and Gaydayton.com.

Comments and questions regarding the site are always welcome. Thanks for reading!