Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue faces closure this winter without new owner

GREENFIELD — The Last Ditch Bar and Arts Venue will be closing this winter unless new ownership can be found, according to its owners.

The bar announced on its social media pages Monday morning that it is seeking new owners, either to join owner Jackie Mattellian as a co-owner or purchase the entire business, with an appraised value of $70,000, and take over the lease at 10 Fiske Ave.

“We put our lives on hold to foster networks of care, resources and a home base for organizing. It’s time we pass it on,” the bar shared on Instagram. “We’ve been fighting since the beginning to fill out the team, and we still don’t have a board/leadership to manage workers’ owned co-op transfer. We are soft closing effective immediately; all booked events will continue; otherwise, we are closed.”

A few weeks ago, the bar announced it would transition to a co-operative business model to support management, after two of the original three owners abandoned the project. The bar wrote that without the people needed to create a board of directors to oversee the new co-op business structure, Last Ditch would need to close.

Last Ditch is seeking proposals for new ownership, which can be submitted to lastditchvenue.com, and noted that the sale would include the furniture, equipment, inventory and social media pages. The bar noted that it would be willing to train the new owners and assist with the transition.

While seeking new ownership, the bar will not be open during its regular business hours. It will only be open during scheduled events, such as an upcoming “Yuriween” set for Oct.31. The event will include performances from several musicians and DJs, and costumes are encouraged.

Other events on the calendar, including the regular Tuesday comedy and open mic nights, Wednesday karaoke nights, and Saturday “Club LD” nights, will continue as scheduled until this winter. The bar did not specify a last day; however, its website calendar currently lists a final entry for a karaoke night with DJ Kouch on Dec. 31.

Last Ditch opened its doors in April 2025. The owners, Asa Rosario, Jackie Matellian and Sage Territo, decided to open after learning that former queer bars and performance spaces like The Majestic Saloon and 10 Forward were closing.

“I thought, ‘Somebody has to do it,’ and we didn’t know of anybody else who was going to save one of the two places,” Matellian told the Recorder in 2025. “So we were like, ‘OK, I guess we have to do it.’”

Matellian told the Boston Globe in September that they have been working multiple jobs and living out of their truck to keep the bar afloat and pay back a $50,000 loan the three had taken out to start the business.

As of Monday afternoon, a fundraiser for Last Ditch had raised 144% of a $150,000 goal, totaling $216,000 that the bar said would go toward overdue rent, staff, facilities maintenance and coopertizing costs.

The fundraising had been underway, with a much smaller goal, when a report in the Boston Globe about the bar lifting its mask policy on Saturdays went viral, gaining national media attention. Following the Globe report, the story of Last Ditch was retold by publications across the country, and a few internationally, resulting in the bar bolstering security and closing events to the public.

The widespread attention also led people to learn about the bar and donate to support it. On Sept. 24, the fundraiser had received a little over $9,000 in donations. A month later, that amount had soared by more than $200,000.

The fundraising page does not clarify what would happen to any remaining funds after the business is sold.

Last week, the bar had announced it would be selling merchandise and offered T-shirts and other apparel for pre-order.

When a reporter stopped by on Monday afternoon, the lights were off, doors locked, and there was no response to knocking. The bar also did not respond to requests for comment via phone, email and direct messages on social media platforms.