Toy Con Toronto 2025

I'm about three posts behind but now's the time to play catch up! On June 28, 2025, I decided to attend Toy Con Toronto, a new event that looked like it would be about toy collecting. The organizer actually messaged me about being a vendor, since they classified my work as being toys... but to be honest I don't really consider my work as toys. I just recently started making figurines from clay but the majority of my works are still accessories and jewelry primarily. And plus, selling my handmade work alongside mass produced vinyl toys, or 3D printed toys is kind of demoralizing to me personally. At the time I didn't know what other artists they had reached out to either. I tend to not vend at shows that are new and go as an attendee, just to get a feel for the event first.

With the popularity in blind boxes and toy collecting these days, it seemed like a cool event to check out. Entrance fees were $5 per person. It was also close by (so it's technically not in Toronto, but in Richmond Hill which is way north of Toronto proper). The event space was in an industrial area and there was free parking. Inside the venue, it was comprised of several smaller rooms. Overall it was very small! Much smaller than I had anticipated, but part of the space had a nice coffee bar area built in. There was a washroom located in the middle of the main area. Overall it was very cozy and intimate. There were also food vendors and some were located outside in the parking lot area behind the event space. (Not sure why onigiri are so popular now and they charged $9 for one. They're the same size as the mold I have at home, so I later ended up making my own. I ended up trying their onigiri at Bamtori and it wasn't anything special, just really salty because the filling to rice ratio was way off. Also their dango look very similar to the frozen ready to eat ones you can get at East Asia Food Mart in bulk! I guess you're paying for the gold foil lol. Their daifuku are okay but a little overly sweet for my Asian tastes. The strawberry was definitely a couple days old though, didn't taste fresh at all).

I didn't spent a long time there but it was alright to check it out. I was also surprised to see that it was a two day event... which was kind of odd to me seeing as there was nothing to do except browse art vendors and food vendors? It didn't feel like a "con" to me, because normally there would be workshops or panels at a con that would make you want to spend the day there with shopping in between. I definitely did not need two days to shop at the small amount of vendors. And while there were toy-focused vendors, there were other artists selling non toy related items, just general cute merch like you would find at an anime con or arts market - no toy or 3D focus at all. I get that the organizer was probably desperate for vendors (heck, he asked ME and I'm not well known at ALL) but to call it a "Toy Con" and not really have any criteria for vendors makes it kind of pointless. That's my only critique I guess.

But it's definitely nice to see more hobby events like this uptown!