Scooters

On January 3, 1997, Wayne Marek opened Scooters, a gay bar located on Galloway Street in Eau Claire. The location had previously housed a succession of businesses: Breadline, a café, in 1990; Backdoor, a gay bar located in the back half of the café, from March 1, 1991, to March 1992; and Scruples, a full-time gay bar, from August 1992 to March 1996. Marek purchased the bar and reopened it as Scooters. He also owned The Trading Company, located just around the corner and across the river on Eau Claire Street, in what is now Stone’s Throw Bar.

With unique nightly drink specials, a Minneapolis guest DJ on Saturdays, and Friday night karaoke, Scooters quickly became a staple of gay nightlife in the small city. By the end of the year, the bar had new owners, Jody Kvapil and David Beranek. Advertisements for Scooters in Quest, a bi-weekly directory of LGBT businesses, kept viewers and patrons informed about drink specials, holiday events, and drag shows. The bar also participated in Eau Claire Pride, often hosting bus shuttles and drag shows that provided additional opportunities specifically for new drag artists.

In the early 2000s, the owners hired Miss Dee-Lovely to paint a mural inside the bar depicting its history. The artwork features prominent local drag artists and references the gay bar predecessors that had occupied the building.

David sold his ownership stake to Brett on June 1, 2025. Brett and Jody now co-run the bar, hosting drag nights, trivia, bingo, and karaoke, which they advertise primarily on their Facebook page.

A controversy involving Scooters and drag performances arose in November 2025, when the owners wanted to cut Chippewa Valley Drag Revue drag group’s shows, which had been occurring monthly for about ten years, to instead four or five shows per year. Despite the group being a beloved part of the Scooters culture and bringing in 100+ patrons, the owners claimed the show was not successful. The group had been feeling underappreciated for a while and collectively decided to “no longer host drag shows at Scooters bar,” while adding that they would be “continuing our support of this establishment through our patronage.” This decision upset many patrons; some of whom claimed the bar was “turning straight” and losing its ties to queer culture.  

Despite this, Scooters remains known as one of the only gay bars in the city.