DENVER SWEET IS WHERE THEBEARS MEET

Denver Sweet

by Denny Patterson

The wait is over. Denver Sweet has officially reopened. Owners Ken Maglasang and Randy Minten were excited to welcome patrons back to Denver’s only bear bar over Pride weekend. According to a Facebook post, reopening was a success.

Denver Sweet was first introduced last year during Memorial Day weekend. “We are a bear-inspired, LGBTQ-friendly bar that is always welcoming,” Maglasang says. “Randy and I wanted to open a bear bar back into the Denver community. The Denver Wrangler was the predominant bear bar for 21 years, and when they closed, it left a big void here in the Denver nightclub scene. Randy and I at the time were resident DJs over at the Wrangler, so that kind of gave us a push to pursue opening Denver Sweet.”

Sweet was a signature dance party that the Wrangler used to do monthly. They would have various themes with the honey paw logo. “We really loved the branding around Sweet, so we asked the former owner of the Wrangler if we could take Sweet and make it our own and make it even better to be an actual bar,” Maglasang explains. “The owner let us take it, and we gave the logo and branding a total uplift. That’s how we became Denver Sweet. We felt that there were a lot of good takeaways with the Wrangler for many years, so we really wanted to capture some of those good elements and make it even better. We wanted to be the bear bar that is involved with the community, gets involved with different cultures, and provides a very friendly and welcoming place for all.” In the past, Denver bear bars have been known to be sexist, transphobic, and unpleasant. Maglasang and Minten’s goal is to be the complete opposite. “We knew this, but that is not mine or Randy’s culture,” Maglasang says. “Especially being DJs, we work with a lot of

is Where the Bears Meet

people in the community as entertainers, so we really wanted to change that dynamic and set a new precedent for the bear bar. One that is with the community and stands forward with that and works together. That is our new mantra, and since we have opened, we have really broken that stigma. We offer a very friendly and welcoming environment. We are the bears you want to party with. Our staff also sticks to those values.”

“Anybody we bring in here to work has to understand that our culture is inclusive,”

Minten adds. “We are many things, and our guiding principle here is to serve the bear community and be all-inclusive to everyone.”

Denver Sweet was immediately embraced by the community.

When Maglasang and Minten were in the beginning stage of constructing Denver Sweet, they envisioned a bar and nightclub offering two floors of entertainment.

“Down in our main bar, we do a lot of music videos,”

Maglasang says. “We are kind of a video bar with various themes. We also have a full dance floor, so we have the capability to bring in DJs. We have poker nights, trivia nights, drag shows, and we added a pool table. So, we are really offering a multi-use space here, but our biggest highlight is, we have one of the nicest rooftop bars here in Denver. We are in the old Funky Buddha space, which was a pretty predominant, straight nightclub 10 to 15 years ago. We felt it was really nice to put this type of rooftop bar into the community, an open-air venue for socializing. Unfortunately, in the current world, we have to social distance, but we do have the room to do it. We feature the same type of multi-use experience.” Denver Sweet officially closed March 16 due to COVID-19. Before reopening, Maglasang and Minten worked hard behind-thescenes to ensure that they would be compliant and follow social distancing guidelines. “The CDC guidelines are pretty clear as far as social distancing,” Minten says. “We are placing tables six feet apart; make sure

people understand the rules when they come in. You have to have a mask on. Once you are at your table, you can take it off, but if you walk around the bar or go to the restroom, you need to have it on. That is a hard requirement we have to follow. We will also be sanitizing all areas where customers sit, restrooms, other common areas, the stairwell, and the handrail. We are more of a social bar, not a sit-down bar. We have had to increase our seating and utilize our space, which we could because one of the advantages of Denver Sweet is that we have a large space, especially the rooftop. So, we are able to spread out and accommodate the maximum amount of people we can have. “The other thing we have had to do is serve food,” Minten continues. “The current ruling right now, in order to be open, you have to serve food. This has been kind of a big hurdle for us. We have a full kitchen; it’s a commercial kitchen, and we have not used it up until now. We had a goal of having small appetizers by this summer, but we basically had to accelerate our plans. When the ruling came down that you can be open only if you offer food, we kicked into high gear to figure out what to do to get our kitchen running. You can’t just be open from one day to the next and start serving food. You have to have inspections from the health department and have everything in place to do that. “So, that is what we have been working on since that ruling came out,” Minten concludes. “We decided that we are going to go ahead and offer a small menu. We are never going to be a restaurant, but we will offer a light menu. We want to not only just follow guidelines, but also satisfy the needs of our customers.”

When the official announcement came out that Denver Sweet would be during Pride weekend, patrons were overjoyed. Maglasang and Minten say they have received a tremendous amount of support and love from the community, and they are ready to reconnect with everyone. “We are really excited to open our doors back to the community,” Maglasang says. “Since we opened our doors a year ago, we showed the community our values as a bear bar, that we can be a player and work together with other bars. By offering a welcoming and inclusive environment, we have been overwhelmed with great support from our customer base. They anxiously waited for us to reopen, and I think that is a great thing to attest to. In lieu of all this, the rough situation we faced, and are still facing, it is nice to know that the support within the community has been so strong, and that they are really excited to get back to some sort of normalcy. Being back to our bar and seeing friends and our staff, it’s a comforting feeling.” “We are a very lively bar,” Minten adds. “We have lots of music, lots of videos, a great customer base, many regulars, and it is going to be great seeing them in here again, even under these circumstances. I am excited to see the bar alive again, having people back in here and seeing our staff. We have an amazing staff, and it will be great to have them back. Our staff is wellknown in the community. I can’t wait to see this place up and running again.” For more information on Denver Sweet and COVID-19 guidelines, visit denversweet.com or follow them on social media. Located at 776 N. Lincoln St. in Denver, hours of operation are Thursday and Sunday 4 - 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday 4 p.m. - midnight. Also, feel free to email info@denversweet.com.