BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. — The public is invited to the Andrews Inn Oral History Project’s Community Discussion & Potluck at the Rockingham Library on Wednesday, March 27 at 5:30 p.m. Andrews Inn was a gay disco, bar, hotel, restaurant, co-counseling site, and community space on the Square in downtown Bellows Falls, Vermont from 1973-1984. Originally started by John Moisis, in the building owned by his parents at the time, Thom Herman and Jeremy Youst bought Andrews Inn and took over ownership and daily operation in 1979. In their first year, Herman and Youst contended with an anti-gay parade and thousands of dollars in broken plate glass windows. The Inn’s history brings to light the complex cross-currents of the 70s and early 80s and the power of shared social space in defining personal and collective identities.
The Andrews Inn Oral History Project emerged from a rich collaboration between Green Mountain Crossroads (GMC), Marlboro College, and Vermont Performance Lab that was hatched in the spring of 2015. Since that time, GMC continued researching and interviewing those who frequented Andrews.
Part of the impetus behind their collaboration and the oral history project is to address the tension between visibility and obscured existence present in the legacy of rural LGBTQ people in Vermont and throughout the U.S. We are thrilled to share this critical LGBTQ history with the broader public.
This program is free and open to the public. The library is wheelchair accessible. For accessibility questions, please call in advance. For more information go to rockinghamlibrary.org.
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