Happy Cute Mart

Last Saturday I attended Happy Cute Mart, a local arts market located in Markham. It was the first year of this event and I wouldn't have known about it if a friend hadn't mentioned it. I was bummed about missing Anime North this year because I wanted to check out the artist alley to buy things but I decided bringing a baby along in the heat and dealing with the hoards of people wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday. Anime North definitely has outgrown its venue I think in the past few years and I don't feel bad about missing it anymore... I'd only ever go back if I was selling cause waiting in lines for hours with a bunch of sweaty people does not sound like fun...

Happy Cute Mart was just what I needed, basically a huge room of artists selling cute merch! It really reminded me of a smaller Minicomi in Vancouver. The location in Markham was also a plus since these types of markets are almost always located downtown or somewhere far so for once it was nice not to travel so far! It was held at the Thornhill Community Centre which was a great venue since parking was free and it was quiet and spacious, and had benches to sit down and feed the baby. The only downside of the venue is the lack of food options nearby but that can be resolved I guess since this market had food vendors!! Many of which unfortunately sold out by the time we got inside though...

Speaking of which, it was really popular! We got there around noon and there was a massive line to get in since they had to keep crowd control for fire code regulations so I don't blame them. (It was my fault for not buying VIP tickets!) We waited about half an hour outside and thankfully it wasn't super hot or rainy (it did rain heavily later in the afternoon though). Didn't take pictures of the inside but it was basically a big room with vendor tables. It was brightly lit, spacious and was very well organized. I also saw some people with strollers in line and also some brought their kids. Also I forgot to mention, it was a free event!

Here is my modest haul! I was mainly looking for prints for the office/nursery and pins for my itabags. I didn't wanna spend too much so limiting myself to only use cash helped me budget...but there was definitely a lot of cute things and it was hard to resist for sure! I know I didn't want to get sucked into pin collecting but somehow I caved since there's normal nice looking bags that also function as itabags now and some pins are just too unique and nice to pass up. Anyways, that's my review of this amazing event as an attendee and I hope to go to more in the future!