Greenfield, Massachusetts, Lesbian Bar Soft Closes and Seeks New Owners After Mask Policy Dispute

Last Ditch Bar, a lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts, announced on Instagram on Monday, October 26, that it is "soft closing" effective immediately and is looking for co-owners, new owners or a full buyer. Only already booked events will continue, and the bar said it will close fully this winter. The bar, which three housemates started in 2025 in a basement space, said it needs "new owners ASAP." The post put the value of its equipment, furniture, repairs, inventory and other assets at about $70,000. It said people could also join, train and take over the transition. The bar said it still lacks a board or leadership team to manage a move to a worker-owner cooperative, and an exact closing date is unclear. The bar went viral last month after a Boston Globe story on its plan to make masks optional on Saturday nights, a change meant to raise revenue, while masks stayed required on other days. Some customers accused the owners of ableism and of abandoning immunocompromised people. "We put our lives on hold to foster networks of care, resources and a home base for organizing. It's time we pass it on," the bar wrote.

The right-leaning New York Post and Daily Mail frame the closure as the end of a culture war. The Post calls the dispute "messy," describes critics as "high-strung" and "dramatic," and quotes a commenter who hoped the venue would be firebombed. It also cites the "mass disabling event" and "eugenicist" accusations. The Daily Mail's headline calls the outrage "wild" and the mask fight "woke." Its text concentrates on the sale details: the $70,000 asset value, the missing leadership team and the unclear closing date. The left-leaning Guardian US also reports the closure, the Instagram post and the backlash. But it adds that critics were then piled on and mocked for their Covid concerns, and that the publicity brought some support, though apparently not enough. It stresses the bar's struggle to raise revenue under a strict mask policy. All three agree on the soft closing, the search for owners and the Globe story as the trigger. Alternative outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing.