“I moved to Edmonton from Toronto to slow down a bit after 15 years of working in clubs and at parties in that city. I didn’t realize the gay scene would be as slow as it is here,” says Jamie Miller, one of the founders of the Pure Parties that have grown to high acclaim in Edmonton, in mere months.
“Soon after I arrived, The Roost shut down and that left a huge void in the gay community. There is only one dance club left…so that leaves a lot of people out, unable to get in on the weekends. …We wanted to create events that give people somewhere to go at least once a month.”
Miller makes no mention of some of the smaller gay establishments in the city, such as Boots and Prism, who do technically have dance floors. Both have invested money to improve their facilities since the Roost closed, and have hired weekend DJs. However, neither is set up primarily as a dance club, and as such they tend to be overlooked by the crowd Miller draws with the Pure Parties.
Miller describes the monthly event as, “…a place for [people] to look forward to coming each month, which provides a safe place where guys can dance with their boyfriends and feel comfortable knowing they won’t get hassled.” He went on to say, “We’re going to throw unique events not seen in Edmonton’s gay scene for a long time. So far we’ve had drummers, fire performers and of course some very sexy shooter boys and dancers.”
One thing that might jump out for some people is the fact that the events, up until this point at least, have been held at a different straight bar each month. According to Miller this is not a concern because the events have drawn a large enough GLBT crowd to dominate the establishment.
“I think people have been happy just to have a place to go out that is new, and that brings a bit of excitement in itself. And in many cases we are throwing these events in places the people at our events have never been before. So that also introduces them to a venue they might be afraid of going into otherwise, not knowing if it is gay friendly. It was funny because we did a joint party with a straight promoter for our last event and he was throwing a party in a different room in the complex and we basically took over. It was quite empowering to see the straight folk suddenly feeling uncomfortable because of gay people, and they couldn’t do anything about it.”
The venues themselves have also warmed up to the idea.
“At first the venues have been reluctant but the owners of Rouge Lounge kind of paved the way for other venues to feel more comfortable with our events. They were the first place to let us throw a Pure party. Since then it has been fairly easy as I think everyone knows gays and lesbians go out a lot and they want a piece of that market. Plus they heard our events are sell outs, so they know we will fill their bar.”
The founders of Pure recently teamed up with another project new to Edmonton’s gay scene: PLAY Nightclub, which is scheduled to open this month. Since the club shows promise to fill the niche that first inspired the creation of Pure, we asked how their cooperation with the club will affect the continuance of their events.
“We plan to do our parties at PLAY for the time being. I think it’s going to be a very exciting Venue in Edmonton, after all there hasn’t been a new gay bar in almost a decade. So this is a great and needed addition. Plus the owners are really forward thinking. They want to create a classy and upscale venue, still a nightclub, but a place with style and a big city feel. I know they are investing a lot of money into the place so I’m very grateful for that and I’m confident our events will be a good fit with what they are doing. We’ll have to see it I guess, when we throw our first event [at PLAY] on September 20th. But we are thinking of moving the PURE parties to Fridays, because that will be their ‘mens’ night. But we’ll make that decision after this next event.”
PURE
pureedmonton@bigger.com
http://www.pureedmonton.com
Next Event:
Sat. September 20th, Doors at 9pm
PLAY Nightclub (10220 – 103 Street)
Edmonton
