“Gay people who are passing through can connect here.”Weaver and DeEsch actually met at the Bunkhouse. The only one in Summit County is the Bunkhouse Lodge, a bed and breakfast near Breckenridge that attracts local and visiting gays.”It’s the only open environment for them where they can meet other (gay) locals and guests,” said owner Adam Rudziewicz. “Gay people move here for the same reasons.”Through the Summit Scene website (created by local gays and lesbians, locals and visitors can find out about Summit County gay events, which include ski and ride days, camping and socials at restaurants and private homes.But they don’t have much to choose from in the way of gay-specific venues where they can gather. “Most people are living here to be more active and outdoorsy,” Weaver said.
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“More people in general are coming here.”Weaver and DeEsch both said they think the Summit gay social scene is more wholesome and healthy than that of a larger city. “We just blend in more.””More wholesome and healthy”Weaver, who has lived in Summit County for 13 years, said gay people definitely don’t move here for the social life.Weaver’s partner of three years, Greg DeEsch, said he believes the gay scene has grown in recent years, but only because the county has grown as a whole.”It’s not just that more gay people are moving here,” DeEsch said. The men have been brought together through the Summit Scene, a website that posts events for gay people living in and visiting Summit County.”We’re not really flamboyant up here,” said Joe Weaver, a local gay man and bartender at Paisano’s. Some are there with significant others, some are solo and others are out-of-towners looking to find a ski buddy to ride with during their vacations.The nearby tables of marinara-faced children slurping spaghetti from the kids’ menu and couples mulling over the wine list would probably never guess that the men at the bar wearing bands on their left ring fingers don’t have wives waiting at home, or that the single fellows aren’t on the prowl for attractive ski bunnies.
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The men at the bar range from Generation Xers to baby boomers, and most are dressed in jeans and sweaters, drinking red wine or draft beer.
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Families with lift tickets hanging from their jackets are waiting for tables, servers are weaving between tables to deliver steaming plates of pasta and bread, and about a dozen men are gathered around the restaurant’s bar laughing and talking. KEYSTONE – Paisano’s in Keystone is bustling on a Friday night. Summit Daily/Julie Sutor Bill Mitchell, seated in black, a recent transplant to the Front Range from Summit County, chats up other bar patrons at J.R.s, a favorite gay hangout in Denver.