Last Ditch Announces Immediate Soft Closing After Mask Policy Backlash in Greenfield
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 26
Last Ditch Announces Immediate Soft Closing After Mask Policy Backlash in Greenfield
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 26
Summary
Last Ditch said it is “soft closing effective immediately” and is seeking new owners, though booked events will still go ahead this week.
The Greenfield lesbian bar became a flashpoint after making masks optional on Saturdays, a change meant to lift business that instead triggered accusations it was excluding immunocompromised patrons.
That dispute drew national and overseas attention after a September Boston Globe story went viral, and even a surge of visitors on the first mask-optional Saturday was not enough to keep the bar afloat.
Opened in 2025 by three housemates after other regional queer bars had shut, the venue had pitched itself as a community-run safe space in a city of about 17,000.