Upcoming Toronto Sideshow festival celebrates the art of the unusual

What started as a love for all things odd and downright freaky has become a full-blown production, showcasing the strangest things on earth for all to see. And it’s all coming to Toronto for one night only this month.

I’ll admit it, when I first heard about this festival, I had no idea what to expect. A celebration of the bizarre? A showcase of the unexpected? That curiosity was enough for me to explore the Something Strange Sideshow Festival – Oddities Market and Freakshow, an experience that promises to blur the line between fascination and fear.

Taking place on Jan. 26, 2025, this is apparently Canada’s largest gathering of the strangest performers, and it will be at Revival at 783 College Street from 12 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. There’s a marketplace expected too, showcasing the strangest displays imaginable and a thrilling show to end the night.

“I’ve always loved the supernatural, the paranormal, and the strange, and some of my earliest memories are going to ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not,’ in Niagara Falls, and seeing weird, you know, two-headed animals and that type of stuff,” Mysterion, co-producer of the Something Strange Sideshow Festival and renowned Canadian mentalist shares with me.

Vowing one day to have his own collection, Mysterion began building his own private “museum,” which currently has 150 pieces.

“I bought a bunch of really far out, cool oddities,” he shares. “I really wanted to showcase that element, but I also wanted to bring performers to the stage who are not your average performers.”

The Toronto event has a multi-level oddities market featuring a list of vendors curated by his partner and co-producer Lizz de Savoye.

“There are three floors of vendors selling everything from antiques and taxidermy and diaphonized animals in formaldehyde and jewellery and esoteric items and witchcraft items, old books on supernatural subject matters, artwork and weird crazy stuff,” adds Mysterion.

“But the event afterwards is the big one and we have some pretty heavy-hitting acts from the States coming up,” he shares.

“We have Dash Rippington, who’s a Guinness world record holder. Nathan McScary, who we just saw performing at Coney Island this past summer. And this guy’s just amazing.”

Also known as ‘The King of Animal Traps’, Rippington holds the record for the Most Mousetraps Released on the Tongue in 60 Seconds with 63. One more and he’d probably lose his taste buds.

As for Mr McScary, he’s known for juggling, sideshow, and fire entertainment. And he’s even dangled animal skulls from his eyelids. Impressive.

The lineup will be intense and it all kicks off at 8 p.m. “There’s a lot of acts that you’re not going to get to see in a mainstream theatre setting. And I’ve put them all under one roof and it’s just this motley assortment of people,” mentions Mysterion.

“I have one friend who’s a little person who can hold off three or four full-sized men, people who can contort their body through a tennis racket, pain-proof people, people who eat glass, people who nail a nail into their nose or use a drill to do that.” Talk about a nose job.

Performers will push the boundaries of the bizarre and unexplained. And I’ll be sure to catch all the action in intervals as I cover my eyes.

Mysterion emphasizes that the festival is not just about shock value, but also a celebration of the art of the unusual.

“They’re they’re pushing the boundaries of the human body, acts that are breaking moulds. We watch it behind a screen and we don’t actually ever experience it. And this is an opportunity to sort of see it firsthand.”

These sorts of festivals pop up across North America from time to time. Oddities & Curiosities Expo, brings “lovers of the strange, unusual and bizarre,” together as it stops in the U.S., cities and soon Canada.

So whether you’re a fan of the supernatural (like me), a collector of oddities, or simply curious about the weird and wonderful, Revival on College Street is the place to be on Jan. 26.

“What I always hope for is that somebody leaves knowing that the strange and the unusual may not be their cup of tea, but they like to have a sip once in a while and I think that that’s important,” he shares. And I agree.

Admission to the market is $11, and $35 for families, and the show is $30 in advance and $40 at the door.