What is boom!? Well, we exist for one sole reason: to provide all people of Fredericton, regardless of sexuality, a world-class place to party and be themselves. It is the personal mission of every person who works at boom! to consistently provide the friendliest, cleanest, sexiest, sleekest, loudest, tastiest nightclub experience we can!

When we, Michael and Steven, opened boom!, our primary goal was to create an environment where Fredericton's gay crowd would feel safe and be proud of, and we wanted to show people that a cool club can fly anywhere, not just in a big city. We also wanted to create a stable business with long-term survivability. After we opened, two things happened almost immediately:

- One, we realized to our surprise (although of course we should not have been surprised) that gay people in Fredericton don't all have the same idea of what the ideal nightspot is, whether it comes to music, atmosphere, entertainment or decor. Over the past couple of years, we have learned a lot about what our customers want from us overall and have responded to this enthusiastically. We also offer a different scene on every night from Thursday (karaoke night) thru Saturday (mainstream dance night) to offer something for everyone.

- Two, as the word started to get out that boom! was clean, had excellent staff, offered good service and played cool music, we started to attract more and more people in general to play... and work... at boom!, all kinds of whom we had never met before and of course had no idea what their sexuality was. Why not? From the day we opened we have focused on welcoming all people to boom! no matter what they look like or wear or act like as long as they are respectful to other customers and are there to HAVE SEXY FUN.

People ask us now and then whether we are "gay or just gay-friendly," and at first we honestly did not know what to say. We had never been in the position of defining exactly what it is that makes a bar "gay," especially in a tiny city like Fredericton. Does it mean that gay people go there? That can't be right, because gay people go to every bar and restaurant and every other business for that matter in Fredericton. Does it mean that people who aren't gay are not welcome? That can't be right either, because there is obviously no way to know what the sexuality is of every person that enters your business, and if someone comes in looking to spend money and respect our scene, the last thing we are going to do is tell them they are not welcome. :)

Does it mean that you have "gay" events? If that's how you define it, then we fit for sure, because we have hosted, among others, AIDS NB benefits, a fetish night, a leather night, any number of guest appearances by drag performers, a pride week, a guest appearance by Mark Tewkesbury on behalf of the World Outgames, Furfest events, and parties for every colour in the pride flag.

We have also hosted a Womyn's Night in a variety of formats, had resident lesbian DJs and interacted regularly with members of the local lesbian community about ideas for events. We have welcomed people who inquire about our dress code to dress just about any way they like when they come in, whether as a man, woman or anything else, as long as they look hot. :) :) However, we don't think that automatically makes a bar "gay" either, it's just what we love to do. If only gay people came to boom!, then it would be a hoot, but it's not something any bar has any way of monitoring or enforcing, apart from contuinuing to put on gay-themed events and embrace the gay community of which we are proud members.

The most important thing of all to us is to make every single person who comes in feel welcome as long as they are there to have fun and respect others. Our parents, sisters and brothers and those of our club manager, Derick, have all been to boom! and visited our Web site and are all among our biggest fans, and we are proud to run a clean, classy nightspot that we would not hesitate to have them or anyone visit. The only thing we can think of to say to people who ask whether boom! is "gay enough" is to feel absolutely free to approach us at any time about how they would specifically define "gay bar" and help us to find ways to achieve this for them.

At boom!, we and Derick are out on the floor every single weekend to make sure that you are having a good time, and we and every other member of the boom! team welcome anyone who has feedback on what we offer or ideas for future events to talk to us about it on the spot or contact us anytime outside of weekend hours.

It's been a spectacular ride so far! We have amazing customers who support us loyally, and we are proud to call many of you our friends. We can't tell you how much we have all appreciated everyone's support since we opened, and it is awesome how people go out of their way to make helpful suggestions to us, approach us about different ideas and concerns and look out for each other, all in the goal of making the boom! experience even better. Together everyone has made boom! into the sexiest small nightclub in Atlantic Canada. Keep spreading the word!