A regularly scheduled “pub crawl” or tour of Key West’s world famous gay bars is about to begin operations here.
“It kind of seems like a no-brainer,” said Tim Dahms, the Crawl’s founder. “There have been successful, regularly scheduled pub crawls of Key West’s straight bars for years.”
Key West, long known for it’s prominent LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender) community has never had any regularly scheduled tours of its gay bars before, so far as anyone can remember. “I’ve lived here for five years, and I’ve asked around, and apparently this hasn’t happened before” added Dahms.
Tourists pay a flat fee, in this case $36 and in return get a guided tour of many of Key West’s historic gay bars and nightclubs. The ticket price also includes: a drink at each venue, a “discount pak” of special offers from local businesses, and, among other things, the opportunity to participate in a “Conch Blowing Contest.”
“We want to see who gives the best conch,” quipped Buddy Crane, the crawl’s first-ever tour guide. Such contests are common in Key West, and test contestants’ ability to get a musical tone by blowing into a conch shell horn.
Straight people take heart, the tour is more than open to you. “We love straight people” added Crane, “after all, it takes two of them to make one of us!” Owner Dahms further explained that while the tour will be informational and fun for everybody, it will also serve a higher purpose. “We want as many straight people as possible to participate. When they see how welcoming and friendly this community is, we feel a lot of undue stigma will evaporate.”
“We have a lot of fun and surprises in store. Every tour will be different” said Crane.
Initially the tours will take place on Fridays and Saturdays from 4 - 6:30 PM, with expansion planned. Reservations are now being accepted at the tour’s website: www.gaypubcrawls.com
More details on Key West Accommodation can be found on the Rainbow Tourism Website.
2 comments:
This is great. Makes us want to start one here
But we have only one gay bar hahaha
I was unable to reach this pub crawl operator by phone or email in advance. When I got there I learned he was using the Business Guild for taking reservations p- and they knew nothing about it. So I did a pub crawl on my own - and found one of their brochures, so I hope that means they are actually legit, albeit unorganized and loosing biz!
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