Canvas gay bar nashville

Late Friday afternoon, the line snaked around the entrance as patrons of the East Nashville bar Canvas entered to pay homage to its founder, Darek Wayne Tannerwho died earlier in the week at the age of Tanner founded the bar ingeared toward the LGBTQIA community and their allies, with a name intended to allow patrons to help define its character.

I first entered Canvas a few days before I started working at The Tennessean in Novemberand my husband and I met our first friends in Nashville. We were weekly happy hour customers, but we also felt a kinship to the community being built there and continued to support the establishment even during the days of COVID re-openings in when bars were forced to reinvent themselves in the age of masks and of social distancing.

And we followed it to East Nashville in Any time Tanner was in the bar, he would stop the work he was doing for a moment to chat and talk about life and his vision for a welcoming space where patrons could be themselves.

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Tanner understood that, and, for many, Canvas became a place to rest, recharge and refocus. They build people up in a supportive community. Last year, I wrote about the closing of the iconic Music City gay bar Trax and how this trend in closures is due to a mix of gentrification, the rise of dating apps and more open attitudes about the LGBTQIA community.

These places still matter. Hopefully, that will inspire the community as a whole to emulate his courage, kindness and commitment even in the hardest of times. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. Call him atemail him at dplazas tennessean. David Plazas Nashville Tennessean. Canvas became a space for to rest, recharge and refocus I first entered Canvas a few days before I started working at The Tennessean in Novemberand my husband and I met our first friends in Nashville.