Eureka Springs Fall Diversity Weekend & Travel Tips

November 26, 2018| Carly| 0 Comment| 9:15 am

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Getting married during Pride month meant we didn’t make it to any pride events this year. So I was pretty excited when our friends Mikey & Curt invited us to Eureka Springs Fall Diversity Weekend. Eureka Springs is a tiny little town in northern Arkansas about an hour and a half south of Springfield, MO. The whole city is on the registry of National Historic Places and Eureka Springs is definitely what I would call a ‘tourist town’. Despite its small size, it’s full of historic sites and tons of really cool shops, restaurants and bars.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Around 80 miles south of Springfield, MO
Population: 2073
Eureka Springs Official Website

Eureka Springs Fall Diversity Weekend

Eureka Springs fall diversity weekend events were put on by Out In Eureka. And they don’t just do fall diversity weekend, they also do a spring and summer diversity weekend. I wasn’t really sure what to expect before going, but I would say it was like a mini Pride. There were a handful of booths set up in a square area in the downtown with different events throughout the day, including a family friendly drag show.

It’s a small town and I was very encouraged by the amount of people there for the event and also by the amount of shops we visited that had rainbow themed Eureka Springs swag for sale. One soap shop even had Diversity Weekend themed soap. (photo below) Also, Saturday night there were not one but two drag events at local bars. We opted out of both of those because we were pretty worn out from a day of walking and we weren’t really sure how crowded the bars would be. But we did go to a different bar and it was great. Overall, I definitely do recommend visiting Eureka Springs during one of their diversity events. Catch the drag show & take extra money for shopping.

Traveling To Eureka Springs

A few travel tips for Eureka Springs. If you’re driving there from Springfield, maybe don’t drive at night. We did, and it was a pretty treacherous drive. Lots of super curvy two lane roads, we came upon a deer in the middle of the road, and there was I think only one gas station along the way on the route we took. There may be a better route to take, but just a head’s up. Driving home during the day on Sunday wasn’t bad at all.

Once you’re in Eureka Springs, the streets are a little narrow and it’s hilly but I was comfortable driving. I felt like parking downtown wasn’t too bad, but plan on paying to park during the day. Also plan on lots of walking in the downtown area, uneven sidewalks, uphill/downhill walking, and probably some stairs (although the serious stairs can be avoided). All that being said, I am terribly out of shape and I had a great time so don’t let any of that deter you from visiting.

Speaking of stairs – here are Eureka Springs famous Rainbow Stairs! We did walk up them. Jamie counted the stairs (she does that) and we think it’s something around seven flights. Not for pregnant women or anyone with a heart condition. Or something like that.

We drove into Eureka Springs Friday night and when we got to town, we immediately drove to the downtown area to get food and drinks. We had to park and walk a pretty far ways and I’m glad we did because we got a glimpse of the area and I was in super tourist mode, like in awe of all these neat shops and cute places and old buildings and quirky stuff. At the risk of sounding super ridiculous, Eureka Springs is a magical little place. It was quirky and weird and charming and perfect.

There are a ton of cool things to see in Eureka Springs and a lot of them we didn’t even visit. There are at least two haunted hotels, the Crescent Hotel and Basin Park Hotel, parks, hiking trails. They have an escape room and ghost tours. They also host a lot of events other than diversity weekends, including an annual UFO conference, which sounds like a blast. Click here for their calendar.

Favorite Places We Visited

The Rowdy Beaver – We went to the Rowdy Beaver, which was packed, on Friday night when we got into town. I’m not going to lie, I was a little concerned when we sat down because it was very obviously a country bar of some sort and country bars and LGBTQ folks don’t always mix. But then our waiter was super nice and the food was the best. Get the loaded fries – they have the good ranch. By the time we left, the bar was filled with people who were probably in town for diversity weekend. They were doing karaoke, and after back to back performances of 4 Non Blondes, Janis Joplin, Melissa Ethridge & that country song “Girl Crush”, the bar had almost become too gay to function by the time we left.

Eureka Matterhorn Towers

We stayed at the Matterhorn Towers for two nights during our visit. The owner was also the person who checked us in and he was really nice. When Curt mentioned he had stayed there before, he gave him a ‘thanks for coming back’ discount. lol. They had a great little free breakfast. It was a quirky little place with a tree with flip flops hanging from it (?) and real keys to the doors with what I would call old fashioned keychains. That was my favorite part.

Two Dumb Dames Fudge Factory

Really amazing fudge and very cute & reasonably priced souvenir t-shirts. A definite must visit. They have some of the best fudge Jamie has ever had, and she’s kind of a souvenir. The cheesecake was her favorite, and the milk chocolate, tiger and peanut butter were also really good.

Packrats

I’m not sure how to describe this store other than it was a gift shop that sold a lot of souvenir stuff like shot glasses, and a lot of what I guess you would call novelty items like I Love Lucy salt & pepper shakers, those metal signs with funny sayings on them, and racks and racks of keychains etc with ‘your name’ on them. It was a fun place, the owner was also the cashier, and we bought some really awesome locally made pepper jelly.

Small World

Okay so this one is easy to miss, but you have to go find it. It was pretty tiny inside but it was like shopping a ‘ten funny & functional gifts to give this year’ Buzzfeed article. Funny soaps, tea towels, makeup bags, & stuff like that.

Eureka’s Nut House

I didn’t think I liked corn nuts but I was wrong. We got kettle corn flavored and I ate them all later that night at the hotel. lol. There were a ton of flavors of nuts and corn nuts along with lots of those sometimes oddly flavored bottled sodas. They also sell nut-inspired lip balm made by a place down the street – I got the cranberry almond. Also, your nut bag will say ‘this is my nut sack’ which is a little childish but still gave us a chuckle.

East By West

Home of the working bunnies. I didn’t know what this meant until Curt checked out and the guy brought out this big fat bunny that sat on the counter and gave him his change. Cute & impressive.

Mud Street Cafe

We went for Saturday brunch – the food was really great. Long wait to get a table but it was worth it. They have self serve coffee which I liked, and you could also take a cup to go. They also had a very good Bloody Mary made from a local Bloody Mary mix. We bought a bottle to bring home. There was a cup of trivial pursuit cards on the table and their staff t-shirts were on the wall to buy with some pretty sassy slogans on them.

New Delhi Cafe

Our lunch spot – amazing burgers & the salad I got was huge and also amazing. We sat in the main restaurant on the first level, but there’s also a second level with a stage for live music (someone was playing while we were there during the day on Saturday) and a third level that I think was mainly just a bar. I think this was my favorite restaurant of the trip.

Sugar & Spite

A dope candy store.

Tee Rex

This was a t-shirt shop that also was a sort of vintage shop with 80s & 90s media, toys and games. “Endangered collectibles” was their tagline. I really liked their t-shirt designs but didn’t find one I wanted to buy.

All The Gnomes!!

Okay, so there are only actually two gnomes in Eureka Springs. Jamie wanted to take photos with each of them, which we did. Then, when we saw them for a second time, she was positive they were new ones, and we took photos with them again. lol.