February 8th, 2025 was the last day of operation for Velvet Club & Lounge, St. John’s only remaining gay bar since the closure of Kaleidoscope in 2023.
St. John’s has had an ebb-and-flow of openly queer bars since the 1970s, but there has usually been at least one functioning at any given time amidst small gaps between closures and re-openings. Right now, St. John’s is left with no establishments for 2SLGBTQIA+ centered nightlife once again. The closure and rebrand of ‘Velvet’ as ‘Junctions’ has sparked many vital conversations about queer spaces, artist labor, and safety.
The Muse asked some St. John’s residents for their thoughts on queer spaces in our city.
Velvet closure and rebrand
A beacon for queer nightlife in St. John’s, Velvet served as a tangible meeting point for people of all genders and sexualities, and operated as the city’s main venue for drag performances since 2012.
The club garnered criticism after Canada’s Drag Race contestant and local performer Tara Nova revealed that drag performers at the venue only got paid $37.50 per performance. Another contestant on the show, Xana, says she receives a $200 flat rate in Vancouver venues.
It is understandable that the rates in St. John’s are lower, since it’s a smaller city with less demand for performers. However, viewers felt that $37.50 for work as physically demanding as performing was much too low – not to mention the expense of the costumes, wigs, makeup, shoes and other things generally necessary for drag.
In lieu of this controversy, Velvet canceled events organized by Tara Nova. Her revelation on the show had wide-ranging media coverage, and drag fans, both nationally and provincially, were not pleased with this development. In a wondrous display of community, people fiercely advocated for Tara Nova, supporting her in locating new venues speaking out against the mistreatment she received.
Following its closure, the club had plans to rebrand to its former name, ‘Junctions,’ and projected a shift to more varied performances such as stand–up comedy, live music, and DJs. Owner Luc Viau stated that Junctions would still host drag performances, but it seems unlikely that local performers will frequent the establishment given Tara Nova’s experiences.
Velvet reopened as Junctions on February 22, 2025 with a few DJ nights, but attendance rates were varied.
While this closure initially hit the drag community quite hard, especially from a job security standpoint in terms of a regular performance venue, performers seem to be making do with a host of events at various other venues in the city. There are also a few other notable queer spaces in St. John’s like Quadrangle and Intersections, as well as pop–ups organized by Queer Picnic St. John’s, but in terms of a designated gay bar, Velvet was it.
Some community members have expressed grievances about the club and additional concerns about participating in downtown culture and nightlife.
What this means for the queer community in St. Johns:
Some 2SLGBTQIA+ St. John’s residents gave their thoughts on the bar, its closure, and predictions for future queer spaces in the city.
Local trans rights activist and musician Aramaria Yetman said that “[the bar] is controversial in that the people who ran it weren’t queer themselves. They weren’t a part of the community and if they were it was not to my knowledge. It very much did feel like they were profiting off of queerness.”
She went on to cite her own experiences as a transgender woman, she said that in her opinion “trans women never really felt safe at Velvet to begin with…Velvet has always been something I have not seen as home. It was more home for the drag community and I think it was really important to them.”
Yetman emphasized the strength and resilience of the queer community in Newfoundland, saying that “we were here long before Velvet and we’re going to be here long after Velvet… We’re not a part of Velvet’s history, Velvet is a part of ours.”
She urged any prospective venture seekers to prioritize trans inclusion, by “[being] vehemently trans and queer. Accept queerness, don’t hide it. Don’t try to appease people that don’t like you.”
Morgan Moakler-Jessiman, a queer community worker, burlesque performer, and former Kaleidoscope employee offered their commentary on the bar’s rebrand. They recounted concerns surrounding bar operations and management during past performances at Velvet.
There appeared to be significant issues of infrastructural decay and privacy, with performers’ dressing room doors lacking proper locks, boundaries being consistently overstepped, and rodent sightings.
“When we create queer spaces it’s really important to focus on safety, but while we focus on safety we can be providing joy. Joy can be a driving force,” they said.
St. John’s resident Joseph Kade, a gay and trans man originally from rural Ontario, cited his first Velvet experience as something special, especially since frequenting George Street previously. “I loved seeing a bunch of people be authentically themselves without having to check their shoulder or be scared to talk to the wrong person,” he said.
“The rest of the times that I went to the club I had great experiences too, with the queens, staff, and patrons. I got to talk to an older queen from an outport community who was very sweet, and she talked to me about how no one in her life knows she does drag. It made me feel grateful and bittersweet.”
Kade discussed the stark differences between George Street and queer nightlife spaces like Velvet, opening up about negative experiences on George when he and his boyfriend went together, leading them to pretend to be friends at the bars out of fear of harassment or assault.
“It’s strange,” he noted, “because we just seem like buddies on George Street when in every other aspect of our lives we are lovers, and in Velvet we could be just that.” He acknowledged that not everyone had the same positive experiences at Velvet, but it evidently meant something to the queer community in St. John’s.
Given the current political climate, some people seem to have a quite pessimistic outlook, worrying that the gradual disappearance of queer space seems to be looming.
Recent Controversy
In an Instagram post, Junctions announced their annual Fetish Night, a yearly event that was highly anticipated and always saw a fantastic turnout when they functioned as Velvet. This was met with immediate backlash from the community, and people expressed frustration towards the establishment attempting to profit off of queer people in lieu of underpaying drag performers and, as many people say, “exploiting the community.” The posters were taken down shortly after.
Re-posted screenshots were shared around Instagram with the added tagline “allyship is not transactional,” and many community members urging folks to boycott the bar in protest.
The Muse contacted bar owner Luc Viau for his comment, but received no response.
Future projections
St. John’s is a relatively queer place – in fact, the metropolitan area has one of the highest rates of transgender people in the country. The city will likely have another queer center for nightlife at some point, it is just a matter of when.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see how the atmosphere of future spaces would differ compared to Velvet. Queer Newfoundlanders are hoping for an overall more welcoming space, especially for non-cisgender people, but in the meantime folks can support existing community-based organizations, and prioritize safety if they do choose to participate in nightlife.
