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Midnight at Dawn event draws northern kink community

It might not be for everyone, but alternative lifestyle convention draws kink community members from across the North as well as vendors from across Ontario

You might not be aware that Greater Sudbury is home to a private adult lifestyles club. You might not be aware that there is a thriving kink community in the city, as well.

But the Nickel City is no different from anywhere else, and the fact is, there are people into kink the world over, and several of them were in Sudbury for the one-day-only Midnight At Dawn adult expo, held at the Northbury Hotel and Conference Centre on Brady Street on Sept. 10.

For anyone falling under the category of “vanilla” (that is those not into the kink lifestyle) “kink” or the “kink community” describes a group of people who organize and attend meet-ups, parties and social events centred around BDSM (Bondage, Domination and Sado-Masochism) and other sexual proclivities.

The expo featured a vendors’ fair, workshops on various kinky activities (such as binding, suspensions, waxplay, swinging and spanking), and entertainment including the Toronto Kinbaku Salon and Sudbury Burlesque.

The Midnight At Dawn expo drew members of the kink community from Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and North Bay for the event, as well as vendors from across the province.

The goal of the event, said organizer Paul Nadeau, was to “explore, educate and entertain.”

“It’s about creating a space where adults are free to express themselves,” and explore their innermost desires, he said. “It’s a safe space to explore a variety of different lifestyles.”

Nadeau said there wasn’t much of a kink community in Sudbury when he moved here from Ottawa, so he created the Midnight Manor as a venue around which an ecosystem for an alternative lifestyle community could coalesce.

Located on Regent Street, Midnight Manor is a private, members’ only adult lifestyles club, possibly the only such club in Northern Ontario, Nadeau said. In fact, Sudbury’s alternative lifestyle community, and the Midnight Manor, are experiencing a jump in growth since he opened.

With private adult clubs closing in major cities like Toronto and Ottawa due to spiking rental costs, Sudbury is one of the few areas of the province where kink (or at least access to a thriving kink community) is actually growing.

“There are a million ways to be kinky — your journey through kink is a journey of self-discovery,” Nadeau said. “It’s about finding out what pleases you, what excites you, and where you start is rarely where you’ll end up.”

He describes the community as very open and inclusive of all genders, sexual orientations, body types, races, creeds and tastes.

There is a vetting process to join the Midnight Manor, Nadeau said, to ensure clientele are safe, secure and of legal age to participate in events. Those events include get togethers at the Manor (which is also available for rent), running a Discord server where members can interact and hosting “munches” (kink community meetups held at restaurants or bars).

If you’re curious about the lifestyle or the club, Nadeau suggests reaching out to them through the Midnight Manor website.

Mark Gentili is the editor at Sudbury.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkGentili. He can be reached by email at [email protected].


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Mark Gentili

About the Author: Mark Gentili

Mark Gentili is the editor of Sudbury.com
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