My girlfriend & I went to the Taboo sex show at Northlands on the weekend. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but the $12 to park my car certainly did not help set the sexy mood they were going for (unless getting it without lube and no warm up whatsoever is your thing). $15 admission seemed a bit steep too…
Once we got into the venue the first observation I made it was it was really *DARK*. Not allot of lighting but I guess to help set the mood they chose this. You were handed a bag for all your loot and goodies as soon as you got in and we started our circuit. Most of it was what you would expect from vanilla sex shops that you can find on any high street.
The first aisle we head down we encountered some folks from our community selling their toys. At least these were designed for more than “shits’n'giggles” play unlike the sex store variety of toys. I especially liked the velcro komedy-kuffs they had. At the end of the aisle we first went down they had the ‘dungeon’ where some people were demoing fire-play and some other misc light SM type activities (I think it was the Alberta Society for Kink that put that one on). Good to see we had some presence there! Going through the rest of the venue was very ‘more-ish’ although there were some exceptions.
One observation I made was the popularity of the glass dildos. I had seen these for the first time at a Lupercalia vendors booth a couple of years ago and they seem to be popping up everywhere now. There was a mobile piercing trailer/vehicle setup which was pretty cool. There were a few unexpected booths at the event (Teeth whitening? Head massage? Oriental Medical Centre? African made winter hats and hot sauce? Pot accessories? WTF?). No idea what that was about. Sampling Absinthe and other beverages wasn’t really related either but it was entertaining! Oh ya, I totally recommend the Beaver Buzz drink they were promoting. That was awesome. The work of the body painting guys was really good. Very creative stuff. There was very little geared towards the transgendered individuals amongst us but given the overwhelming vanilla nature of the event I guess it’s not surprising. It was good to see the guys from Priape in Calgary made it up.
What’s up with the pricing at these type of events? We looked at the Hitachi magic wand (which appears to be the best vibrator ever!) and at the show they wanted between $125 – $135 for it. Good luck with that one. http://store.americanapparel.ca/magicwand.html - $65 Canadian, free shipping; oh ya plus $3 tax. I am all for free enterrprise but some of the prices I saw there suggested they were just having a laugh. There were a few things I would have entertained picking up if it wasn’t for the out of this world pricing. The only things I picked up were some COCO Chanel rip-off earrings… is that sad or what?
Besides, I spent the rest on parking 
If you went what were YOUR thoughts?
I put the popularity of Glass Dildos down to them being see through, easy to clean and long lasting in so much as they don’t tear and there are no batteries to change Or that they are eco friendly and pretty to look at.