EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. — The city of Eureka Springs hosted the first “mass gay wedding reception in the Bible Belt” on Saturday, welcoming hundreds of guests from across the region to celebrate the more than 500 same-sex couples married in Arkansas in May after a state judge invalidated the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

The Human Rights Campaign and the Eureka Springs Gay Business Guild sponsored the reception, and more than 40 restaurants gift shops, hotels, galleries and retailers contributed goods or services.

KLRT-TV reports:

The Arkansas state Supreme Court is currently weighing state officials’ appeal of that ruling.