PaperJam came and went! But what an event! I feel like PaperJam’s been on my calendar for so long. I’ve been anticipating PaperJam with every Instagram post, every conversation about it. It’s weird that it’s over. But it was such a pleasure seeing the zine community come together for a local event, supporting the Toronto Zine Library and other zinesters! It was a great chance to meet new people and see old faces from other zine events. I, personally, loved the atmosphere of the event, from the beautiful zines, art, and merch of the vendors, to the curious perusing of the attendees, down to wonderful lighting, and all the Beyonce songs playing in the background (I noticed!). There was just this brightness that everyone brought along with them, making me proud of the event, for my part in it as well as everyone else’s.
Now, enough from me! Here are some thoughts from our lovely vendors about what they enjoyed about PaperJam:
“I really enjoyed the folks that came to the event. It was a really great energy and they were enthusiastic about people’s work and I felt that it was a really great community.”
“The community building/sharing and overwhelming love within the walls of the space.”
“Great vibe, awesome selection of zines and zinesters, super helpful team, that it was ok to have snacks and be creative, also the coffee was a nice perk.”
“I enjoyed being in the living room which had a much more relaxing vibe, was a cool space, enjoyed visiting the library.”
“The people and the conversations! Paper Jam is a true community event for zine publishers, creatives and lovers alike!”
I would like to take the time to thank all of the volunteers, vendors, the Tranzac Club and the attendees who came to PaperJam! I would also like to thank Hailed Coffee for supplying us coffee as well as Tara Bursey for donating snacks plus drinks and Fox for bringing a box of Timbits to PaperJam. You all made this event possible! I hope to see you at the next one!
Photo credits (sourced from Instagram): @superlune, @makermeyao, @familystyle, @lishagics, Paul Twa, @artists_anon, @crowandmoonpress, @prude.mag
