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…