Saugatuck Michigan Gay

This week, Michigan Radio is presenting a series entitled Community Vibe. We're highlighting a captivating aspect of various towns throughout the state.

Presently, we'll be journeying to the adjacent communities of Saugatuck and Douglas. These are artistic, waterfront resort towns located in West Michigan. Although Saugatuck-Douglas is nestled within what is recognized as the Bible belt within the state, it additionally functions as a vacation destination for a substantial gay community. Michigan Radio's Emily Fox delivers a report on how Saugatuck-Douglas evolved into the gay resort hub of the Midwest.

Jonathan Schruer has called Saugatuck home for eleven years. He occupies a residence downtown, which is characterized by boutique and artistic, family-run shops positioned right on the water's edge. Schruer and his partner jointly operate a Bed and Breakfast here.

During his leisure hours, Schreur has been occupied with a project collaborating with the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society to illuminate the narrative of how the gay community took root. As it unfolds, gay individuals, both men and women, have been journeying to Saugatuck-Douglas for a considerable time.

Following the Kalamazoo River for approximately a mile from downtown Saugatuck, it spills into Lake Michigan, where extensive stretches of dunes come into view. Until five years ago, one of those dunes accommodated a private nude beach. Schruer asserts that the gay community convened there for more than a century.

"There were newspaper articles from the nineteenth century that referenced men lounging in the nude," Schreur states, "Thus, already in the 1890s, this activity was underway."

We do not possess certainty as to whether those unclothed men were necessarily gay, yet Schreur indicates that the gay population began to expand significantly around 1910, coinciding with the Art Institute of Chicago's establishment of a summer program in Saugatuck, known as Ox-Bow.

"A multitude of individuals who participated in Ox-Bow, a lot of the creative types perhaps were gay men and women," Schreur mentions.

Following the establishment of Ox-Bow, the artistic community and urban dwellers from Chicago started visiting Saugatuck-Douglas, and more gay individuals began frequenting the dunes.

Carl Jennings started visiting the area in the 1960s. At that time, he was residing near Grand Rapids with his spouse and offspring. He was still in the closet. In those days, Grand Rapids did not present a secure environment for gay people.

"If it became known that you were gay or something akin to that, the police would harass you, and they would demand that you provide the names of anyone you knew who happened to be gay," Jennings recounts. "It simply wasn't an easy path to traverse."

Jennings would find refuge in Saugatuck on weekends, tending bar at the de facto gay establishment in town, known as The Blue Tempo, under the pretense of generating more income for the family.

"Back then, you were obligated to live and lead two lives. You had to be a straight person, or at the very least, project that image, and then if you were fortunate enough to stumble upon something like Saugatuck," Jennings reflects, "It felt warming and accepting."

It was markedly different from the religious and conservative communities of Zeeland and Holland, located just north of town. Jonathan Schreur, the B&B owner, who grew up there, states that Saugatuck-Douglas was nicknamed "sin city."

Schruer notes that during the period when Carl Jennings was bartending at The Blue Tempo, there existed a law prohibiting the serving of alcohol to homosexuals.

"We were categorized with prostitutes and vagrants," Schruer states.

Jennings says The Blue Tempo disregarded the law, and the police chief chose not to enforce it. But that does not signify that everyone got along.

"Around two in the morning, once the bars had closed, there was a small hot dog stand on the corner, approximately a block or a block and a half away, and quite often, there would be altercations between gay individuals and what I would characterize as perhaps some redneck troublemakers," Jennings recalls.

The Blue Tempo was destroyed by fire in 1969. Another decade passed before another gay bar appeared in town. By the early 1980s, Jennings had disclosed his identity to his family, and he and his new partner aspired to establish a gay resort and bar in the area.

However, the Saugatuck City Council declined to issue them a liquor license.

"They asserted that they would never, under any circumstances, authorize a license," Jennings says.

Consequently, Jennings and his partner ventured across the river to Douglas and succeeded in opening a resort there. The Dunes Resort is now promoted as the largest gay resort within the Midwest, offering approximately eighty rooms.

Jennings recalls that numerous issues surfaced upon the initial opening of The Dunes. There were bomb threats, and young men attempted to shatter car windshields in the parking area using baseball bats.

Nonetheless, Jennings states that the gay community is substantially more accepted and incorporated within the community nowadays.

You can witness this in action at Douglas's Friday night gathering spot—a restaurant called Everyday People. Matt Balmer manages the establishment. He's a lifelong resident and formerly served as Douglas' first mayor. He indicates that there is always a diverse blend of patrons dining at his restaurant, but he also mentions a substantial gay crowd that congregates on Friday nights.

"Friday nights have been labeled, not by me but by many of our guests, they dub it as Fri-GAY nights," Balmer comments.

In a room accommodating roughly fifty people, around a dozen individuals are assembled in the center, embracing and exchanging greetings.

One of those men is Bobby Carlson. He states that his group comprises a collection of occupied professionals who reside and work in the city.

"We all arrive from Chicago and Detroit. We all converge after a whole grueling week of labor. We all recognize, come to Douglas, our beautiful four-block town, and come to Everyday People," Carlson says.

Carlson mentions that they all possess second homes situated in close proximity to each other here. Akin to the initial gay wave a century earlier, they possess a haven where they can flee the city, unwind, and feel a sense of belonging.

Support for arts and cultural reporting on Michigan Radio comes in part from a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.