The 6th annual Church Street Fetish Fair, presented by the Church Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area (CWVBIA) and Steamworks Bathhouse, took place on Sunday in scorching weather. The event, which exhibited and promoted the leather, fetish and fantasy community at large, began at 9 a.m. and ran until a little after 9 p.m.

Volunteers spread out all over the street to collect donations for this year’s charity beneficiary, HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic (Ontario). HALCO is a not-for-profit community-based legal clinic that provides free legal assistance to people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

The Gay Village strip was closed off from Gloucester to Alexander Streets to accommodate three stages, vendors and community information booths. Bars and restaurants on the street also gave the fest added seating for perfect people viewing for patrons by extending their venues to include sidewalk patio areas.

From the conventionally dressed to the dominatrix and the odd nudist, the fair brought folks from all over. “The most interesting person I met,” said Ryan, who works at Priape, “was a tiny older lady in her fifties or early sixties. She’s so sweet, and she’s a writer who wrote homosexual male erotica. Her job before that was as a kindergarten teacher. It’s amazing.” Priape sells a wide range of fetish gear along with DVDs, magazines, adult material and fashionable clothing.

Entertainment and demonstrations ran throughout the hot, sunny day with performances from Burlesque on the North Stage by Cawthra Park, whips and wax demos on the Folsom Fetish stage in the Beer Store parking lot and drag shows on the south stage at the Church and Maitland intersection.

In addition, deejays and street performers entertained the crowd walking up and down the strip. These included the ROTC Toronto (Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps) twirling colourful flags in formation and The Imperial Court of Toronto (TICOT) doing a vampiric performance art which then broke out in a brief Michael Jackson/Thriller tribute.

As the sun set, the evening ended with flame throwers and fire acts that added to both the sexual and meteorological heat of the day.