2025 | Diversity Weekend
- John-Michael Scurio
- Mar 29
- 5 min read
Diversity Weekend, in Eureka Springs, Arkansas is a city-wide celebration where local businesses and organizations host a variety of diversity-themed events. From drag shows, community gatherings, and meet-ups, to advocacy events, workshops, burlesque and headline performances.
There’s something for everyone, and we really mean, EVERYONE!
Eureka Springs, Arkansas transforms into a hub of activity each diversity weekend that is held here. We host one weekend in Spring (APR 4, 7:00pm - APR 6, 10:00pm) and one weekend in Autumn (OCT 31, 6:00pm - NOV 2, 8:00pm.)
Each weekend embodies the diversity and spirit of big-city Pride parades but with that small-town flair, no traffic lights, lots of true community energy and over a weekend-long period of time.
Each Diversity event is our vibrant celebration of LGBTQIA+ Pride, set against the stunning backdrop of the Ozarks in radically inclusive, Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Diversity is more than a word; it’s the rhythm that hums through the hills and hollers. It’s the kaleidoscope of characters wandering our winding streets, the voices that echo through our beautifully renovated Basin Spring Park, and the stories shared over coffee at BREWS, (ahem! On the patio, of course.)
It’s the way we’ve learned, in this tiny Arkansas gem, that difference is not division but a differentiator. It's our deep, rich harmony that makes life sing. The people of Eureka Springs truly know that Diversity and Inclusion Makes Us Smarter!
Oh, yes, and we also have our 66-foot-tall Jesus (www.christoftheozarks.com) watching over all of us at all times and you gotta wonder what He’s thinking ... probably like, "Love thy neighbor... but wow, those shorts are bold.'"
Dare To Be Different Here
Eureka Springs has always been a haven for those who walk a different path.
Please consider checking out my new for 2025 blog-series on this very subject entitled: Flocking Brilliant, where I highlight the black sheep of Eureka Springs. Those lovelies that stop trying to fit in and just accept the fact that they ARE different, and they embrace everything that makes them different.
Here are two of the newest "flocking brilliant" blogs featured in this series: (check them out)
The following is an excerpt from "Diversity in the Ozarks to strengthen outreach activities" by Becky Gillette in the ES Independent 6/24/2024.
Diversity Weekends began in the 1990s before there was a Pride event in Northwest Arkansas. These weekends served as a time where the LGBTQ+ regional community could get together for the weekend.
In 2017, Jay Wilks took the lead of organizing and operating three Diversity Weekends a year in April, August and November. Organizing Diversity Weekends and other events has been a labor and love and also heavy lift for Wilks, director of Out in Eureka, who has worked with a group of business owners to find a way to grow Diversity Weekends into major events.
Wilks said Eureka Springs has always been a welcoming town. One reason is that people who come from smaller cities and even some of the larger cities feel safe in Eureka Springs because of the residents and their reputation of welcoming people.
The events have also attracted a lot of free publicity in magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and other countries. Recently Out in Eureka received non-profit status that allows the organization to attract grants and receive donations that are tax deductible. A board of directors is in place for an umbrella organization called Diversity in the Ozarks.
“The board is diverse and represents Eureka Springs in a very positive light,” Wilks said. “For many years, I have been wanting to get a board and the 501(c)3 status done and now we have it. This will allow me to step back and help as needed. I am thrilled about the new board for Diversity in the Ozarks/Out in Eureka.”
The newly formed organization’s first decision was to discontinue Summer Diversity. The premise was that August is the hottest month of the year making outdoor events like the drag show in the park challenging at best, and potentially dangerous with heat emergencies. The group also saw the newly formed Pride Weekend in June as a better match for a summer event.
“Since we moved to Eureka Springs, I have wanted more diversity in Diversity Weekends,” Wendy Reese Hartmann said. She is chief experience originator and co-owner of Gotahold Brewing, one of the business owners involved in creating the nonprofit.
The nonprofit’s mission statement is “You build an inclusive community for LGBTQ+ people. Through our Diversity Weekend celebrations in Eureka Springs, AR, we provide entertaining and educational events that celebrate diversity, promote acceptance and create a sense of belonging. We are committed to advancing equality and human rights for all LGBTQ+ individuals.”
Hartmann said she is excited because of the volunteers who are already showing up and getting involved covering all aspects of the rainbow. She said they can now better focus on education, outreach and advocacy in addition to entertainment and community building.
Ethan Avanzino, a member of the new board who is co-owner of the Wanderoo Lodge and Gravel Bar, said an advantage of the board is that more hands equals less work for any one person – additional volunteers help lighten the load. And more voices of diversity can be at the table. “As LGBTQ+ community has grown, I think it is important to acknowledge to create spaces for other people,” Avanzino. “One goal is to intersect more with people of color in these events and celebrate in all aspects of diversity, and not just LGBTQ+.”
-Becky Gillette, ES Independent
From the healing waters that first drew the Osage to these hills to the artists, outcasts, and visionaries who call it home today, our town is proof that diversity isn’t just about who we are ... it’s about how we show up for one another.
Here, you’ll find drag queens and bikers swapping stories at Chelsea’s, families of every stripe enjoying Sunday brunch at Mud Street Cafe, and musicians of all backgrounds bringing their own twang to the same sweet song.
"To me, diversity is about making room ... real, honest room ... for people to be who they are." /John-Michael Scurio
It’s about embracing the quirks, the cultures, the colors, and the contradictions. It’s about knowing that a place doesn’t become great because everyone is the same, but because everyone is valued for being uniquely themselves.
In Eureka Springs, we don’t just tolerate differences, we celebrate them. We paint them onto murals, we weave them into the fabric of our festivals, we lift them up in laughter and love. We know that community isn’t built by erasing contrast but by blending every hue into a masterpiece.
So, when I think about diversity, I think about my lovely town in who'd'thunk'it -- Arkansas!
I think about the way the streets curve without reason, how no two buildings look the same, how every person who arrives here finds, in some way, a home. I think about the way we dance (or drum) together in the park on a warm night, unconcerned with categories, labels, or politics. Just people, just being.
That’s what diversity means to me.
And if you’ve ever walked these streets and felt a little more like yourself than you did before you got here, you know exactly what I mean. One visit is all it will take for you to feel that hard-to-explain, magical tug on your soul - connecting you to this corner of the world.
Nowadays, it remains to be said that the rejuvenating spring waters that continue to flow below the downtown Historic District and the surrounding Historic Loop continue to emit these mystical, magical energies that tug at your soul, ground you and connect you.
As one of the gay residents here, it is my duty to inform you that this tiny, quirky, crooked little Ozark oasis, "we have absolutely no straight streets!"
Yaaaaaas, Queen - you found it!❤️
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