Monarch Night Club And Community Centre Opens In Fredericton
FREDERICTON — After an absence lasting a little more than one year, a new space for Fredericton’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community has officially opened.
Monarch, a new nightclub and community centre, aims to give 2SLGBTQIA+ residents — both young and old — a place to “finally feel valid” in their identity. It is located in the former Boom! Nightclub on Queen Street, which shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic in June 2020.
Owner Diane Wilson says the club had a busy first couple of days, with lineups waiting a full hour to get inside and filling the venue to its half capacity. As someone who frequented Boom! as an ally, she feels the opening to be surreal.
“I am pretty sure that I am asleep and this is a dream, it still hasn’t quite sunk in that it’s real yet,” said Wilson.
Wilson said she was devastated when she learned Boom! was going to close last year. But, after making a few phone calls, she developed a business plan and immediately got to work closing a deal with the landlord and renovating the interior.
“It was a bit of a whirlwind, sometimes it doesn’t feel like it’s been a year and sometimes it feels like it’s been forever,” she said.
One of the aspects the club now offers is a chalkboard where patrons can “leave their mark on Monarch.” Wilson says many draw small pictures or leave inspiring notes and messages for others. Some even wrote words of thanks to Wilson.
In addition to running the nightclub, Monarch also acts as a drop-in community centre by day. Jonathan Blanchard manages that portion of the venue and says it’s another way to offer a safe space to 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.
“We’re offering a safer space for them to come and not be judged purely on their sexuality,” said Blanchard. “It’s going to be a place where they can come hang out, play games, do some homework and … [attend] a couple of events that we’re going to be doing as well.”
Some of the other activities it’ll offer include make-up and sexual education classes along with all-ages dances and Drag events. More activities and additional info will be shared on its Facebook page.
As a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, Blanchard says he would have had a safer place to be himself if there were spaces like Monarch when he was growing up. He’s looking forward to providing a place of refuge for other members of the community.
“A space like this when I was young would have been a godsend,” he said. “I would have had somewhere that I could have gone and felt acceptable and maybe not really gone through some of the trauma in my life.”
While Monarch has kept some aspects of the former space, such as the panelling around its DJ booth and the mirrors from its dance floor behind the bar, Wilson says she isn’t trying to replace Boom! or its legacy. Instead, it’s about growing a new community while still honouring the past.
“Boom! was a place where I could go and wear whatever I wanted and feel like the most beautiful person in the room,” said Wilson. “I want to give that back to somebody else and I want everyone who walks through that door to feel as accepted as loved as I did.”
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Aaron Sousa is a summer intern for Huddle. Send him story suggestions: [email protected].