Hey everyone,

Christopher Butcher of The Beguiling and TCAF here. Hope you enjoyed (are enjoying?) your holiday weekend!

TCAF: So, I have a couple of things to let you know about. First and foremost, TCAF: The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, is coming up in just under two weeks–May 7th and 8th to be precise. This is the third year in a row that we’ve decided to hold TCAF on Mother’s Day weekend because, frankly, no other North American comic book event has ever counter-programmed Mother’s Day weekend. We’re cool because, hey, cool Moms like comics! And most brunch/dinner events don’t tend to overlap with TCAF’s programming hours. So, as in years past, come out for TCAF and/or one of the many awesome events we’re holding, and check out the full (and still-being-updated) schedule at http://torontocomics.com/events/.

Free Comic Book Day: But because of this, unfortunately, The Beguiling will not be participating in Free Comic Book Day this year. Let me explain:

So remember how I mentioned that, previously, no North American comic book event had counter-programmed Mother’s Day Weekend? Well there’s a first time for everything! This year, the annual Free Comic Book Day comic specialty store marketing event is actually the same weekend as Mother’s Day, and TCAF. FCBD is held on “The First Saturday in May” every year and this ended up being May 7th, the first time ever it was held on Mother’s Day weekend, and so… well, frankly it takes all of our resources at the store to make TCAF a success. The show is run by all of us at the store and a team of great volunteers on top of that, and we just didn’t have the time or staff to run both events.

We’re sorry about this, I for one actually love Free Comic Book Day as an event, and we try to go all-out every year doing outreach into the wider community on behalf of comics. Luckily, there are still a bunch of great Toronto retailers doing Free Comic Book Day events this year, including Paradise Comics at: http://tinyurl.com/68zhmbo. You can also check the official Free Comic Book Day website at http://freecomicbookday.com/ to see which stores in your area are participating.

Mini Maker Faire + More: And that’s the great thing about living in Toronto–every weekend there are dozens of amazing events happening. Festivals and fairs, gallery openings and closings, movies, concerts, readings, sales, and so much more. Another amazing event happening the May 7-8 weekend is the Toronto Mini Maker-Faire, a celebration of making, crafting, DIY-ing, tinkering, hacking and sharing. It’s a weekend where makers of all kinds will show off their projects and hold how-to workshops, with hands-on activities for all ages. It’s going to be great fun, and it’s the kind of thing that–if I weren’t running TCAF–I’d be at all weekend to check out. For more info go ahead and check out http://makerfairetoronto.ca.

Toronto’s Pretty Cool: While we are going to have a jam-packed, comic-book filled weekend at TCAF, there should still be time for you to slip away and check out the Maker Faire, Free Comic Book Day, or any of the other great comics/crafting/diy/arts events going on May 7th and May 8th. We at TCAF and The Beguiling wish nothing but the best of luck and support to all of our friends in the arts community, and we hope everyone has bustling, busy, and successful events!

Sincerely,

Christopher Butcher, The Beguiling & The Toronto Comic Arts Festival