Not a single person showed up to sapphic night thrown by bar in Toronto

A Toronto bar trying to bring together the queer community by throwing their first ever “sapphic night” was disappointed when not a single person showed up.

Sapphic nights are a trend that’s been gathering momentum in queer culture, with events bubbling up in places like New York and Toronto. “Sapphic” is an inclusive umbrella term for those who are attracted to women, and sapphic nights intend to create a welcoming safe space for people who identify with that.

Cake Cabaret was excited to get in on the fun, but unfortunately there were no takers when they tried to launch a sapphic night of their own. The new venue on the Danforth is a space for drag, burlesque and cabaret performance.

In fact, the bar actually gained more attention for a TikTok about the experience than they did for the event itself, with a video going viral on the platform.

“No one showed up to our first sapphic bar night,” reads the text on the screen. “So we ate all the cakes, and talked shit. And we wondered how to get all the lesbians of Toronto to come eat cake and talk shit with us next week.”

@cake.cabaret Don’t make us eat 8 cakes on our own next time because we will do it. Sapphic Social Every Wednesday in July 7pm 627 Danforth Ave in Toronto #sapphicsocial #torontoevents ♬ That’s So True – Gracie Abrams

The post has racked up over 10,000 likes on TikTok and over 100,000 views, with lots of people showing Cake Cabaret love, reasoning out why no one may have attended, and even offering helpful suggestions.

Some worried it wasn’t clear how inclusive the event was, and one person said it may have been because the event was scheduled for a weeknight. Another person said they run a recurring queer event themselves, and that it just takes time to get traction and to keep going. There were also several people who live in more remote locations saying they couldn’t believe people would pass up this kind of event as they have nothing like it where they are.

“Not one person showed up the first time. That was when I filmed that video of myself and Amy,” co-owner of Cake Cabaret Natalie Borch tells YourCityWithIN.com. Amy is a bartender at the venue.

“I thought, well, this is embarrassing that we put an event out and nobody came. But then I posted the video and it just took off on Instagram and TikTok.”

Fortunately, after the viral moment the no-shows haven’t been a reoccurring issue.

“It’s growing and it’s 100 per cent because of that video going viral. We wanted to create a safe and fun environment for queer women and non-binary folks to socialize and meet new friends,” says Borch.

“We have never gone viral on social media before. My reaction was very surprised. We had people commenting from all over the world, asking us if they can Zoom in and join via video to support us.”

Thanks to Cake Cabaret’s post, the event has taken off, with about 50 attendees their second week and about 100 for their third.

“Our hope with having a sapphic night was to get the word out about our new business to the right audience. Our cabaret and burlesque shows are the main part of our business and we are so new that we’ve had a hard time selling tickets. We are a self-funded family business, just me and my brother Grant. So we don’t have the budget to run ads, and we rely on word of mouth,” says Borch.

“It’s been six months, and we were really starting to feel dejected about reaching enough of an audience to fill our space for every show, and wondering how many more months we could keep going. This has given us a much needed morale boost. Just to meet like-minded people who want to support queer businesses, and the arts.”

If people are looking for more ways to support them or wondering what else goes on at Cake Cabaret, they also do monthly drag shows, they’re currently running their cabaret show Wet Hot Canadian Summer until Labour day, and they’re also working on a new sapphic-oriented cabaret show. You can reserve your spot or buy tickets online.