Queer Bar Takeover lay claim to bars across KC on the second Saturday each month

Friends hang out at the most recent Queer Bar Takeover. // Photo courtesy of Queer Bar Takeover

For six years, Queer Bar Takeover has been bringing LGBTQ+ culture to traditionally straight bars on the second Saturday night of each month. Queer Bar Takeover founder Lance Pierce sat down with us to discuss the event’s mission and describe the fun times from Queer Bar Takeovers past.

“Our mission is really about reclaiming space to make room for queer joy and uninhibited expression,” says Pierce.

The second Saturday of each month, Pierce explains, Queer Bar Takeover partners with a traditionally straight bar in a different district of KC to negotiate drink specials. Then, for $5, patrons can receive a wristband to partake in the drink specials and the events the night has to offer.

Pierce describes the typical Queer Bar Takeover accoutrements:

“We set up a selfie booth in the bar, and then we have a photographer that’s going around and taking pictures for social media, and then there’s a DJ as well,” Pierce says. “So, there’s usually a dance spot where people can dance and then a quieter spot where people can just chill and connect and get to know other people. But the concept really is great because it really helps the queer community to kind of reclaim their city.”

Included in the $5 wristband is access to a party bus that will safely drive patrons from the featured bar of the night to Fountain Haus and back, Pierce explains. A drag queen acts as a host on the party bus while chatting with riders and facilitating conversation among them.

The most recent Queer Bar Takeover was at Tom’s Town Distilling Co. Pierce says patrons learned about the history of prohibition in Kansas City at the event, since the space has a 1920s art deco theme. A tasting station was set up with different gins, vodkas, and bitters, and attendees were encouraged to wear their best roaring 20s attire. Each month’s unique location usually does something novel like this for the night of the event, says Pierce.

The next Queer Bar Takeover will be at Lula Southern Cookhouse on Saturday, March 11.

Pierce celebrates the inclusivity of these events and the unlikely connections that form out of Queer Bar Takeover nights, since typical patrons of the bars being “taken over” often attend without knowing the event is happening on a given night.

“That proximity really allows everyone’s humanness to shine through,” says Pierce.

Plus, a few hundred new patrons are introduced to bars they may have never visited otherwise, Pierce says, so everyone benefits.

“I think the thing we’re leaning into is playtivism,” says Pierce. “It’s like activism via play. Just like when you were a kid and you went over and you didn’t really care if they were Black, white, or trans. You were just super excited for someone great to play with.”

“If we’re really experiencing our own joy, and inviting people who maybe aren’t from our community into that joyous experience, we feel like that’s really an opportunity for us to come together in a meaningful way as a society,” says Pierce.

Pierce says the first Queer Bar Takeover six years ago saw maybe 60 total patrons, whereas a typical Queer Bar Takeover these days attracts around 300 to 400 patrons.

Pierce also spearheads Project Visibility, which distributed over 1,000 Pride flags citywide last year. Queer Bar Takeover is another excellent step in Pierce’s mission for LGBTQ+ visibility throughout the Kansas City community.

Visit Lula Southern Cookhouse at 1617 Main Street KC, MO on Saturday, March 11 to experience the next Queer Bar Takeover.