Toronto Delivers

One of the last things you would expect from a celebration of fetish culture is predictable. At the very least, a fetish community should embrace innovation and a desire to push boundaries. So why is Folsom Fair North so average?

The fifth FFN took place on Sunday, July 22 at the Allan Gardens Conservatory. The fair consisted of about two dozen booths and two stages. The booths were pretty standard displays of merchandise. Only two offered any incentive for actually stopping by. Steamworks had a pick-up Twister game and an unnamed vendor held bondage demonstrations every two hours or so. [click here for flickr photos of this event]

While the products offered were varied, there wasn’t a lot of variety across vendors themselves. Why buy a leather armband from booth 005 instead of booth 011? It would seem obvious that there has to be something that sets a particular vendor apart and draws in a crowd. That bit of wisdom seems to have completely eluded the vendors at FFN. Listless folks behind unremarkable displays made the least possible effort to sell their wares to what struck me as fairly uninterested attendees.

While we were there, the performances on the stage were even less thoughtful or creative. A drag queen in an evening gown singing Whitney Houston standards and showtunes? Does that strike anyone as particularly relevant to the community, or even the least bit innovative? I’ve been told that later in the evening the music got better. But the fair was not just an evening event.

The irony, of course, is that in a community noted for its creativity and tendency to push the envelope, Folsom Fair North was notable for nothing. Change the leather for dresses and you could have Drag Ball North; change the dresses for nudity and you could have Free Nature North; change the nudity for t-shirts and jeans and you could have Bear Invasion North. And as soon as your event becomes so interchangeable, it stops becoming a celebration of the community it serves and becomes just another place to sell a $20 cock ring. Folsom Fair North rates a Not World Class and an Upgrade Something (or in this case, upgrade everything). ~ robis