For the first time in nearly a decade, Edmonton will have two gay bars this summer.
Evolution Wonderlounge will open a new location on Jasper Avenue and 115 Street, as its downtown location on 103 Street near 102 Avenue winds down operations.
“It forced us to start looking around so we found this space, so we’re like, let’s just do both at once until the lease runs out,” Evolution Wonderlounge co-owner Rob Browatzke told Global News.
The new bar will take over the Reign Premium Lounge & Kitchen, which has been sitting vacant since January.
Browatzke said he got the call from the landlord that the space was available. The new space will be renamed ‘Evo’ and it comes with new opportunities.
The Wîhkwêntôwin location will offer two floors for dining and events.
Evo plans to open earlier in the day than a typical nightclub, in order to provide happy hour cocktails, dinner menu items, and expand weeknight programming to include trivia nights, bingo nights and karaoke.
Browatzke hopes it attracts a larger clientele base.
“It’s something that we always wanted to do when we first opened back in 2013. We were actually seven days a week and for happy hour, and it just didn’t work because people didn’t want to be in a basement,” Browatzke said.
“The dancing and shows that people associate with Evolution Wonderlounge won’t be following into the new space until the other space closes,” he added.
The current Evolution space has been a target of vandalism multiple times.
On Dec. 22, 2024, police said a man was captured on surveillance video defacing an exterior window of the 2SLGBTQ+ nightclub, directly over a “Protect Trans Kids” poster.
In April 2024, police said three people removed and damaged a Pride flag and threw it into a nearby garbage can.
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Between January 2023 and July 2023, the business dealt with six separate incidents of broken glass and windows.
“The construction and the crime in the area was starting to get a little too much,” Browatzke said.
Ron Byers, director of Rainbow Story Hub, says opening a queer bar on street level is a significant milestone.
“Most of them have been down in the basement or up on the second floor. Very few have been main floor. Part of that is because of the fear of being found out,” Byers said.
Byers said the first gay bar opened in 1970, just under a year after the Canadian government decriminalized homosexuality.
He said most queer spaces were private clubs that required memberships (much like modern lifestyle clubs) and it was much more difficult to enter those businesses.
“If you tried to get in on your own, you were literally grilled at the door to determine if you should be allowed in or if you were a possible threat,” Byers said.
Byers adds while there is greater acceptance of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, a space dedicated to them is still needed, especially for people coming to terms with their sexuality.
“Ordinary bars and restaurants are more accessible to the queer community but there’s still a need. Folks out there that don’t feel comfortable in the public eye and prefer to have an environment with people like them,” he said.
Browatzke agrees, given the current political climate in Alberta, where the provincial government passed legislation affecting trans and gender-diverse youth.
“Politics right now are trending in a direction that is anti-queer anti-trans anti-drag and so spaces like this become more important. Something like this that is so street level and visible, I think it’s going to be exciting and engaging for the community,” he said.
Evolution has been running for 12 years, and has been the only gay bar operating in Edmonton since 2016, when Buddys Nite Club and Woody’s Video Bar on Jasper Avenue at 117 Street closed down.
The downtown location won’t be closing until October, so the city will see two gay bars running all summer long.
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