Etsy: Made in Canada Toronto 2015

Our enthusiastic fans began arriving at 5:30 am for a chance at getting a swag bag! This is the line outside MaRS at 7:30 am, when we already had 69 lucky people who would get one of the 100 swag bags. (photo: Ele Willoughby)

Incredible bounty of the swag bags! (photo by @aznswti)

I think like other organizers, volunteers and vendors I may still be recovering from our incredible show! We just can't say thank you enough to everyone who was a part of our Etsy: Made in Canada day, this last Saturday, September 26 - from our fabulously talented vendors, to our wonderful patrons, generous sponsors, Etsy Canada and our hosts at MaRS. At 5:30 am, the first enthusiastic fans showed up in hopes of winning one of our fabled swag bags. There was already quite the line when we arrived. We couldn't believe the generosity and creativity of our vendors; those swag bags were swelling with fabulous loot, well worth the wait!

photo credit: Peter Power

This year's show was designed to be more spacious and accommodating for our shoppers. We had a juried selection of 140 vendors spread throughout the entire MaRS Centre Atrium from University Ave in west all the way to Elizabeth St in the east. Thousands of visitors came out and showed us that they "shop from Torontonians" and value what our handmade and vintage Etsy sellers have to offer right here in Toronto (and also a shout out to the Canadian sellers from farther afield who came all the way here, just to participate in our show).

photo credit: Peter Power

photo credit: Peter Power

photo credit: Peter Power

Arounna from Bookhou Design teaching her paper flower workshop
(photo credit: Peter Power) 

Throughout the day, there were eight workshops, free to the public. We offered DIY classes including the Big Magic bookbinding workshop (with thanks to Sprout's Press Designs and Graven Feather, and our sponsor Penguin Random House Canada), make your own map pendants with Landfill Designs, make your own leather coin purse with Fitzy Design, paper flowers with Bookhou Design, paper tree ornaments with Salt Cellar Paper Co, crochet amigurumi dolls with the Purple Lilac Amigurumi,  and handmade macrame bracelets with Mai's Jewelry. We also were very happy to introduce a vintage workshop for the first time, thanks to Ian Drummond and Marla Good who shared their expertise and showed artifacts from the IanDrummondCollection.

photo credit: Peter Power

photo credit: Peter Power

photo credit: Peter Power

photo credit: Peter Power

photo credit: Peter Power

photo credit: Peter Power

photo credit: Peter Power

Photo: Peter Power

We love being able to bring together such a great selection of local, creative, Etsy small businesses: artists, designers, craftspeople, makers and vintage mavens. We love seeing the reception we receive here in Toronto and letting buyers meet their Etsy sellers in real life. You can still check out the thousands of photos shared on Instagram with our hashtag #EtsyMICToronto, before, during and after  the show, or the national hashtag #EtsyMadeInCanada. We had simultaneous sister shows at OCADU here in Toronto, and in 33 other cities from east to west. It's great to be part of a nationwide movement, this pan-Canadian extravaganza. We hope you were there to share in the fun and had a fabulous day!

Thank you and congratulations to our vendors! Thank you to our workshop teachers and our volunteers! Thank you to Etsy Canada, MaRS, and our generous sponsors Penguin Random House Canada, Chitchats Express, Chatime, The Printing House, and Friday's Off. Thank you to all our shoppers and supporters in Toronto! Thank you all very much for helping to make this possible.