Category: Administrative

Posted on

Scam Alert Reminder

Hello Darklings,

This is a reminder for potential vendors of TDAM events (or any other market or events where you are required to pay a vendor fee), to please keep yourself safe and ensure that you are dealing directly with the official TDAM account.

We have recently heard from another person who gave money to a scammer back in early January, thinking they were booking space with us for an upcoming market.

We have put a variety of safety measures in place to help prevent situations like this from happening, but they all require potential vendors to be aware of what to look for.

As a reminder:

  • we only accept applications during specific vendor call windows, and only through the form embedded on our official website – we NEVER use JotForm, Google docs, or any other 3rd party application form
  • we only use an official contact@torontodarkartsmarket.com email for all correspondence and payments – we NEVER use gmail, not even a variation of our business name, and we NEVER use DMs on any social network for official business-related interaction
  • on social media, we only post from our official Toronto Dark Arts Market accounts. For some Facebook groups that do not allow pages to post, I will share an official TDAM post via my personal account, but all information will specifically reference and link to our official website
  • we are in regular correspondence with selected vendors leading up to a market; we send out promo packages, load-in documents, and confirmations of all correspondence you send us, such as for payments or image submissions. This will always be from our official email address.

If you come across a vendor call posting that claims to be TDAM and does not link back to our website, or uses anything other than our official email address or social media accounts, please let us know. We do everything we can to get these accounts shut down, but this is an ongoing fight, and they have a tendency to pop back up again.

To ensure you’re seeing our official vendor calls, you can:

  • join the Vendor Mailing List on our website
  • subscribe to the Newsletter on our website
  • follow us on our official accounts on Instagram, Facebook or Threads

As a reminder, we are not responsible for providing either a spot or a refund to any vendor ripped off by scammers. Please be careful out there and protect yourselves.

Posted on

Scam Alert – Please Read

Hey everyone!

Last night, someone scraped the content of our vendor FAQ and application pages and created a scam application on JotForm. The vendor call was posted to a group on Facebook.

Both JotForm and the Facebook group’s administrators were fantastic in removing the form and post as soon as they were alerted to it, but if you came across a vendor call post on the Facebook group Vendor Search Ontario – this was not us, and please do not send these jerks any money. And if you see a post offering spots at any Toronto Dark Arts Market event that was not made by the TDAM account, or that takes you anywhere other than to our official website, that is not us.

To reiterate, because they can be faked so easily, we never use third-party forms such as Google forms or JotForm to solicit vendors. While we post calls for vendors on various Facebook groups, we do not communicate with potential vendors about applications on any form of social media, including direct messaging. We will only accept applications via our website, and we will only communicate with vendors via our official email address. This is for your safety and security, as there are clearly many assholes out there interested in parting unsuspecting artists with their money.

If you come across any of these fake accounts claiming to be TDAM, or vendor calls that do not lead to our official website, please contact us and let us know so we can work to have them shut down.

And please do your research and be careful about who you are giving your money to. These scammers are getting more sophisticated and greedy (they copied our logo, rewrote the descriptions with ChatGPT, scraped the web site contents – and rewrote the application form to raise the table fees), and they don’t care that market vendors are small, independent businesses, struggling to get by.

We are doing everything we can on our end to stop this from happening, but dealing with scammers is like a game of whack-a-mole – no matter how many you bash, there’s more popping up everywhere. Stay safe out there.

Posted on

Start Spreading the News…

We’ve now got many more ways for you to keep up with Toronto Dark Arts Market news.

We know that stuff gets lost on social media because of the algorithms, so we’ve updated the site so that all the posts from our News page will now show up on our Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky accounts. We will be adding Gander to that list as soon as that site launches publicly.

In addition, to ensure that you never miss a vendor call or news post we’ve added a subscribe feature so you can get our posts sent directly to your email.

We promise to not sell or share your contact info, and will only send you posts from here on our News page. You can unsubscribe at any time.

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
And get notified everytime we publish a new blog post.
By subscribing, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.
Posted on

New Market Dates for 2026

Because we are aware that it’s hard to be an alternative indie artist right now, we are delighted to announce three new markets for our 2026 event schedule that will help create more opportunities for local artists, artisans, and creators.

Our Book-ish Market in May 2026 will feature authors, writers, indie publishers, and creators of book and writing-related items and accessories such as journals, paper, pens, and cards.

To accommodate the huge number of jewellery and accessory vendors who apply to our markets, we’ve added a Fall Fashion Fair in September 2026, which will also be open to indie clothing designers and vintage resellers.

And finally, we will be adding an additional holiday market in November 2026 to allow for early Christmas shopping and to offer vending opportunities to even more makers at the busiest time of the year.

Also, please note that we’ve adjusted the date for the 2026 instalment of our Hallowmas Market from the previously announced date to October 10th (Thanksgiving weekend), to hopefully allow for a wider spread of events across the month, making it easier for more vendors and customers to take part.

A full list of dates and vendor calls can be found below, with more info on each market available by selecting a specific event from the drop-down menu.

2026 Market Dates
February 7th – My Bloody Valentine Market – Vendor Call: November 25th to December 9th
April 18th – Gothic Garden Market – Vendor Call: January 27th to February 10th
May 23rd – Book-ish Market – Vendor Call: March 17th to 31st
June 20th – Goth Pride Market – Vendor Call: April 7th to 21st
August 15th – Goth Beach Party Market – Vendor Call:  June 9th to 23rd
September 12th – Fall Fashion Fair – Vendor Call: July 7th to 21st
October 10th – Hallowmas Market – Vendor Call: August 4th to 18th
November 15th – Early Bird Holiday Market – Vendor Call: September 1st to 15th
December 5th – Merry Creepmas Market – Vendor Call: September 29th to October 13th

Posted on

Hallowmas Market – Today!

Today, Saturday, October 18th, 11am – 5pm… Hallowmas Market

Ground Control
1279 Queen St. W.

Enter if you dare! We have tricks… and oh, so many treats! 40 of Toronto’s coolest, creepiest, spookiest artists and artisans will convene on October 18th to offer their creations to help you celebrate the best day of the year!

Our market is (mostly) family-friendly. Our gorgeous venue is close to parking and transit, is fully accessible, and has an ATM on site. The bar will be open for customers to enjoy a beverage while they shop.

Admission is free.

Posted on

Hallowmas Market – Vendor Call Now Closed

The vendor call for our Hallowmas Market on October 18th is now closed. We thank everyone who expressed interest in taking part.

All applicants, including those on the waiting list, will be contacted no later than August 21st. Please check your inboxes and spam folders.

We ask that artisans who did not apply during the vendor call please do not contact us asking for a spot – any cancellations will be filled from the existing wait list.

To avoid missing calls for future events, be sure to sign up for our vendor mailing list.

Posted on

Hallowmas Market – Final Vendor Call

Last chance!! Final Vendor Call ‒ Hallowmas Market

Toronto Dark Arts Market welcomes applications from creators and makers of alternative arts, crafts, clothing, jewellery and accessories, music, literature, decor, toys, and housewares, to take part in our Hallowmas Market dedicated to promoting weird and wonderful ephemera for the alternative-minded individual.

Date: Saturday, October 18th, 2025
Open to the public: 11am – 5pm (free admission)
Location: Ground Control, 1279 Queen Street West, Toronto
Fully accessible venue with wifi and ATM on site

Application deadline: Tuesday, August 19th, 2025, 5pm
All applicants, including those on the waiting list will be notified of their inclusion status no later than August 21st, 2025

Posted on

Hallowmas Market – Vendor Call Reminder

Vendor Call Reminder ‒ Hallowmas Market

This is the big one! Trick or freakin’ treat!

Toronto Dark Arts Market welcomes applications from creators and makers of alternative arts, crafts, clothing, jewellery and accessories, music, literature, decor, toys, and housewares, to take part in our Hallowmas Market dedicated to promoting weird and wonderful ephemera for the alternative-minded individual.

Date: Saturday, October 18th, 2025
Open to the public: 11am – 5pm (free admission)
Location: Ground Control, 1279 Queen Street West, Toronto
Fully accessible venue with wifi and ATM on site

Application deadline: Tuesday, August 19th, 2025, 5pm
All applicants, including those on the waiting list will be notified of their inclusion status no later than August 21st, 2025

Posted on

Call For Vendors ‒ Hallowmas Market

This is the big one! Trick or freakin’ treat!

Toronto Dark Arts Market welcomes applications from creators and makers of alternative arts, crafts, clothing, jewellery and accessories, music, literature, decor, toys, and housewares, to take part in our Hallowmas Market dedicated to promoting weird and wonderful ephemera for the alternative-minded individual.

Date: Saturday, October 18th, 2025
Open to the public: 11am – 5pm (free admission)
Location: @groundcontroltoronto, 1279 Queen Street West, Toronto
Fully accessible venue with wifi and ATM on site

Application deadline: Tuesday, August 19th, 2025, 5pm
All applicants, including those on the waiting list will be notified of their inclusion status no later than August 21st, 2025