09/02/2026
SAFETY TAKES A VILLAGE
Knowing that 15% of women and 7% of men have had a drink spiked, often leading to sexual assault, The Purple Flower launched a local Safe Bar outreach program in Eureka Springs during Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April 2026) to raise awareness, equip venues with training guides based on nation-wide Safe Bar models, encourage recognition of nation-wide "angel shot" protocols as a way for patrons to discretely ask for help and flood the community with drink spike test cards. Now closing out that outreach effort, our Safe Bar kits have been distributed to every venue in Eureka that sell hard liquor and we've given out over 1,000 drink spike test cards (thanks to a generous microgrant from Main Street Eureka Springs). Multiple venues have already found the training guides and resources immediately helpful and have demonstrated their commitment to community safety by intervening in high risk situations thereby preventing potential violence. We remain available to any venue that wants us to come talk with their staff and encourage all venues to take advantage of training available through national Safe Bar initiatives such as safebarnetwork.org and safebars.org. We still have a few drink spike test cards available which we'll be distributing at tabling events this fall, but everyone should know that these tests are easy to purchase online (example: testmydrink.com). We also encourage anyone directly impacted by unsafe bar practices and/or drink spiking to call our crisis line for support. We are here for you... and for the entire community. None of this outreach can guarantee safety anywhere, that's just not realistic. But the more we all watch out for each other, the safer our community will be.
