Some locals stopped by the Last Ditch lesbian bar early Saturday night, intending to spend a few dollars to support a struggling establishment that had become something of a celebrity.
But the bar's purple door was closed. The place would only open at 10pm.
“I have a lot of friends in the queer community and I would hate to see this place close its doors,” said Melinda McCreven, who had never visited Last Ditch but went there to try to spend some money.
The Last Ditch, a basement bar at the foot of a concrete staircase beneath a Mexican restaurant, gained attention in the press in Europe and the United States this week after a Boston Globe report about the bar's plan to lift the requirement to wear masks against Covid-19 on Saturday nights went viral.
The report came after a podcast covered a heated and hostile, hours-long meeting in which Last Ditch regulars and its owner argued about whether the bar was abandoning its mission to welcome everyone.
In the early evening, a sign on the door said another meeting was being held inside.
Greenfield, a town of about 17,000 people in western Massachusetts, is not used to the national spotlight.
As night fell on Saturday, downtown fell silent. A man with a long, scruffy beard sat alone on a bench, his eyes looking down. Another man, apparently upset, shouted cryptic questions to passersby, such as "How do you build a skyscraper?" and "What type of music is jazz?". Someone called the police.
A group that couldn't get in through Last Ditch's purple door walked half a block to play darts at Victoria, a bar frequented by locals, with a tiny Pride flag in the window.
"Friends from all over the country have been sending me articles about this," said Hallie Abelman, 34, referring to the bar controversy. "It's the talk of the town."
While she was being interviewed outside Victoria, a man tried to ask the group for a cigarette.
"There are a lot of different Greenfields," said Phoebe Glick, 35, who also tried to get into Last Ditch. There are alternative leftists, conservative supporters of MAGA (an acronym for Make America Great Again), people of all income brackets and an LGBTQIA+ community that has been migrating from places like Northampton in search of cheaper housing, he said.
At around 6:30 p.m., four people wearing masks left Last Ditch and confronted a small group of journalists who remained outside. When a photographer took a flash photo of them, they demanded he delete the image and threatened to call the police if the other reporters didn't leave.
Three people who lived together — Asa Rosario, Jackie Matellian and Sage Territo — opened the bar in 2025 as a fun space for "Dies, Transsexuals, Gender Aberrations, Workers and their friends". Two queer bars in the area had closed in recent years, and they hoped to fill that gap.
Western Massachusetts would seem like a crowded environment for such an establishment: neighboring Hampshire County has the highest proportion of households made up of lesbian couples in the country, according to the 2020 Census.
The bar's sudden fame stems from the fact that it never really left the pandemic era, even though it only opened last year.
Riders are required to wear KN95 or higher-protection masks, face coverings that were ubiquitous at the height of Covid-19 and that most of the country had long ago relegated to dental hygienists and people who don't want anyone sitting next to them on the train.
In retrospect, the explosive feelings surrounding the bar's Covid-safe policy had been lurking since the day the owners announced the rule on social media, shortly before the opening.
One person responded with gratitude, saying they felt "excluded from queer spaces because they are a queer, disabled, immunocompromised person."
"With all due respect," someone else wrote, unaware that they were foreshadowing the international controversy to come, "would you consider setting aside one night a week where mask-wearing is optional?"
A third person took the discussion to the extreme: "That is, one night a week where disabled/high-risk people are not welcome. Where is the respect you mentioned?"
After opening, the new bar maintained a busy schedule of events, with dance and karaoke parties, drag shows, gatherings to watch women's NBA games, and a variety show billed as "Not Your Grandma's Burlesque." Publications of Last Ditch events on social media often included a reminder to wear a mask.
Over time, however, business decreased, and the bar began to face financial difficulties. Seeking to attract more customers, management announced on social media, on August 31, that the use of a mask would become optional at Last Ditch on Saturday nights.
Hundreds of comments appeared, and the anguish was a huge hit for internet trolls. In the days after the Globe report went viral, a backlash emerged, with people mocking the bar's patrons through cruel social media comments and lengthy opinion pieces.
As 10pm approached, several dozen people — couples and small groups — walked in a light rain to Last Ditch.
Patricia Sonaike, 24, a student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said she became interested in visiting Last Ditch after the bar announced it was relaxing its mask policy, before the controversy hit the news. The new policy, he said, is an attempt to expand the bar's clientele.
“People are forgetting that this is a business that needs revenue,” she said.
Two visiting professors from Smith College, LeiAnna Hamel and Gianna Albaum, said they tried to enter Last Ditch but were turned away because they didn't know anyone already inside. They were told the event was a "private party."
The recommendation was that they return another day, when the commotion had subsided.
