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The Great Canadian Halloween Market Halloween Special!
12 Plays2 days ago
Josh goes into the cornfield to haunt down some vendors and special guests at the Great Canadian Halloween Market in Mississauga Ontario. This special episode is Josh asking vendors and special guests about their Halloween memories.
For more details on the show and guests, check these out:
greatcanadianhalloween.com
Nikkalcaraz.com
Instagram @sugarfreakshow
salemsblackhatsociety.org
And if you want to share your Halloween memories go to
speakpipe.com/genx4lifepodcast
Boo!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Bwahahahaha! ah
00:00:10
Speaker
Hey listeners, this is Josh from the Abazonga Zoinks and guess where I am today. Yeah, so if you guessed the great Canadian Halloween market, you'd be right. Because I'm here today, I'm live and I am also talking to people who have amazing Halloween memories.
00:00:26
Speaker
So hey, you can stop by my speed pipe or here if you're here, come on down and check it out.
00:00:34
Speaker
Welcome, Yavis Onker Swings listeners. As promised, this is the special that I recorded at the Great Canadian Halloween Market, which took place this past autumn in Mississauga, Ontario.
00:00:48
Speaker
So this was the fourth season of the market, and as a participant this year, I was on site to to get some interviews from vendors and the special guests.
Nick Alcaraz on Peculiar Baking and Halloween
00:01:00
Speaker
The first guest we're going to speak to is Nick Alcaraz, the author of Peculiar Baking, A Practical Guide to Strange Confections. Okay, listeners, i am here today with Nick Alcaraz, who is an author of this amazing book about peculiar...
00:01:19
Speaker
Food. Food. Yeah. So it's, it's, the book is called Peculiar Baking, a Practical Guide to Strange Confections. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. So what was your inspiration? Why did you decide to write a book?
00:01:31
Speaker
Well, um, I started making peculiar treats online on Tik Tok and Instagram. And since, you know, every one of my videos went viral, And everybody was kind of like, give us a recipe book.
00:01:44
Speaker
And I was like, you know what? That's a good idea. So then a publisher reached out to me and I said, this is this is my shot. So I wrote the book. That is so awesome. like What a great break. Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:01:57
Speaker
Absolutely. And the book, you know, it's a best-selling cookbook. So I didn't think it was going to do that well. But apparently everybody loves a little bit of peculiar in their lives.
00:02:08
Speaker
Yeah. And baking is popular. People love baking. Yeah, yes, yes. And, you know, I designed the book for not only bakers, but for, like, interior designers because I do that as well.
00:02:18
Speaker
So I made look very aesthetically pleasing. So people would just put it on their coffee table for the holiday. Yeah. Very cool. yeah So, what is one of your inspirations?
00:02:30
Speaker
um Well, Halloween, of course, is my inspiration. I grew up... a I was raised by my grandmother, who loved Halloween, so... ah We were always just talking about the fun fun aspects of it, baking together, watching scary movies and all those things.
00:02:50
Speaker
had a lot of anxiety growing up, and Halloween was the only thing that could get me out of that, you know? So, yeah, just something that makes me happy.
00:03:00
Speaker
Yeah. Halloween does that because part of it is ah costume. yeah you can dress up, you can be who you want to be, whatever character. right And there's that whole fun of it all happens at night and there's candy.
00:03:12
Speaker
Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. Out of all the things that you've made, what is your favorite? I think my favorite thing is the apple eye pie that I made.
00:03:24
Speaker
That one started my career basically because ah Gordon Ramsey duetted it on Tik TOK. If you know what that means, duet. He replied to it, uh, Face to face with it, basically.
00:03:38
Speaker
um And yeah, that one grew my career. and And so I owe it all to the apple eye pie, which was made for Valentine's Day and not Halloween. Right? Yes. But it works both ways. Yeah. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. what What is, let me ask you, when you were a kid, yeah you probably dressed up for Halloween. Yeah.
00:03:58
Speaker
you have a favorite costume? Funny thing enough is I dress as a witch so many times. And i always go back to that. The thing is, doesn't feel like a costume.
00:04:09
Speaker
It feels like I'm coming home. An outfit. Yeah, an outfit. yeah um But if we're talking about costumes, I would say that I dressed up as a scary... Sorry, it's a devil's food cake.
00:04:23
Speaker
Yes. At Heidi Coombs Halloween party, so that was fun. i was just inside a cake. That's awesome. yeah That's so cool. ah Where can people pick up your book?
00:04:35
Speaker
Yes, people can pick up my book on Amazon, Indigo, Barnes & Noble, or any major book retailer that's near you. That's amazing. yeah Well, thank you so much for spending some time with me.
00:04:48
Speaker
Yes, thank you for having me. Yeah, and well, we look forward to seeing you again. and Same, yes. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. Good one.
Jim's First Halloween Market Experience
00:05:00
Speaker
Okay, this is me, and I'm here today with some one of our vendors at the great Canadian Halloween market. Hi, I'm Jim from J&J Cars and Collectibles in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
00:05:14
Speaker
First time displaying at the Great Canadian Halloween show. Lots of fun. Lots of new people I'm meeting here. Really good time. um Halloween for me, we've gone trick-or-treating at Disney World, taking the family there.
00:05:30
Speaker
So much fun. Meet lots of people. Halloween is always a blast. That's awesome. Thank you for so much for sharing on the pod.
Meet Bora Brewington Snaggletooth the 13th
00:05:40
Speaker
Our very next guest is none other than the infamous Bora Brewington Snaggletooth the 13th, all the way from Salem.
00:05:53
Speaker
Bora has been a special Halloween guest at the Great Canadian Halloween Market right from the beginning. Bora haunted me with some very special memories from hundreds of years ago.
00:06:05
Speaker
Okay, I am here today with a very special guest all way from Salem. So please welcome our special guest, and you are? I'm so glad that you were able to fly up here to join us for fourth season, which is amazing.
00:06:21
Speaker
flew up here the great canadian halloween market just spook the
00:06:31
Speaker
great and so glad that you were able to fly up here you know to join us the fourth season which is amazing fourth season of the Great Canadian Market. Yes, it gets better and bigger every year. Oh, it's been amazing. This has been a fantastic show. The costumes get bigger and better. The costumes are better. The did participants for the costume contest grows.
00:06:55
Speaker
Absolutely. so So let me ask you a Halloween question. Did you grow up with with Halloween? I did, definitely. We would decorate our front yard. We would decorate the storage shed.
00:07:06
Speaker
We would have people come through those yard and the storage shed because they were scared the heck out of me. Oh, nice. Yes. Well, that's awesome. One fond memories is my brother would tie a string to the, we had iron railings on each side of the step and he would tie a string from one end to the other.
00:07:24
Speaker
And he would put straw to hide it on each step. And so when somebody would leave the front porch, they would walk down the steps, he would pull the string, and he would trip them, and they would fall. I don't know why that sticks out in my mind, but if you did that, be his days. You'd get a spank. Totally. That would be a spanking, all right? Another thing that he did, he had a crush on this little girl.
00:07:46
Speaker
So he was dressed as Count Dracula. Thank you. Have a good day. Good seeing you. That was our photographer. That was our videographer. What was his name?
00:07:57
Speaker
I don't think I was introduced. Oh, that's okay. but Yeah. Anyway, yeah so yeah so he chased this little girl all the way down the street, two or three blocks. you had an asthmatic attack. Her dad called my dad, and my brother got a spanky.
00:08:14
Speaker
Yeah. Two fond memories. Not very nice. But you know what? Us witches, we like mischievous stuff. Totally. and that's that's what Halloween's all about. What was your favorite candy when you were a kid?
00:08:25
Speaker
It was then and still is now Reese's Cup. Oh. What's your favorite? um Probably anything with peanut butter in it, like a Reese's Cup. Do you eat the whole thing at once or do you eat around the edges? The whole thing.
00:08:38
Speaker
eat half and then I eat the other half. No, no. Who has time for that? have time for that. 320 years I got plenty of time. know what that makes sense. And you know what I do sometimes? I spread peanut pan peanut butter on top of me. you can never have enough peanut butter. No, you cannot.
00:08:55
Speaker
Peanut butter is life. Yes, sometimes I'll take a Hershey bar yeah and spread peanut butter on the flat side and eat it. That's the best. Yes, it is. That's awesome.
00:09:06
Speaker
Did you ever have a favorite scary kind of character when you were growing up over the past 300 years? Jesus. Oh, yeah. That scared the heck out of me. You know, a scary character that really spoke the heck out of I would probably say Jason.
00:09:24
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Original Jason. The horror movie. The horror movie. Guys, yeah. Now, also another one that scared me but not as much was Michael Myers from 1978. Yep.
00:09:36
Speaker
I wasn't scared of him as much as I was michael my as ah was Jason. Michael Myers is still my favorite Halloween character today. But Jason, he he was huge. yeah Scary.
00:09:48
Speaker
Totally scary. And it his mother that did it in first season. know, right? The first movie. Yeah, totally scary. Fooled us! Right? ah Totally. did When you were growing up, did you have a ah favorite toy that you liked to play with?
00:10:02
Speaker
Our listeners that also like toys. I did. I did. you know if you young If your listeners are younger, they won't know this. No. I had Weeble Wobble Haunted House. Haunted House? Yes. It came with a ghost.
00:10:15
Speaker
Nice. It came with It came with like a a little kid yeah kids and had a mirror that would s flip around So you could hide door out and it had a little chimney that could slide down into the first floor I think he's the first floor in the second floor and yeah two openings in You didn't know which one the Weeble Wobble wouldn't end up on the first or second floor.
00:10:40
Speaker
But that is my favorite. And you know what? I get ah had found it in the attic about ten years ago. took it to my sister's house because I flew in on my broom to see her out of town.
00:10:52
Speaker
I couldn't fly with it on my broom back. So i left it in her possession. She lost Oh, Personal, huh? Yeah, no kidding.
00:11:04
Speaker
Losing toys like that. going to have to that up because I don't remember that You don't remember that one? You're older than I am. know. I'm ancient. You're like 800, right? At least 800. You do. Weeble Wobble haunted house. I'm going to look that up.
00:11:16
Speaker
It was had a gray roof and a white... walls. It opened up. That's really cool. You open it up and you can see the whole inside of the house. That's amazing. That reminded me, I have a craft project have to finish where I took a Fisher Price house and turned it into a haunted house.
00:11:33
Speaker
So I put wood slats and it looks like it's all burnt and I've got like little ghost figures in. So it's a little art project. We're good. So you're going have to go online and find the Weeble Wobble house. going to. I'm going to have to look some pictures up and find that because I think that's really cool.
00:11:47
Speaker
If I had room in my yeah and my dungeon, I would get another one and display it. Yes. That's one of my favorite toys, you asked. Yeah. was one of my favorite toys when I was growing Yeah.
00:11:58
Speaker
That's a cool one. I didn't have Weebles when I was a kid, but we had Fisher Pikes. Fisher Price made Weebles, but they didn't sell those. Yeah, but we had the Fisher Price ones with the... No, on my parents just didn't buy them. They were square. They were wood. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They were the wooden ones with a little round heads.
00:12:13
Speaker
Yeah, we had those. the the really I can't remember. Anyways. I don't remember what they are, but I do know what you're talking about. Yeah, they had house and a school and a farm. Are they the ones that had the airplane? Yep, there's an airplane. airplane You know what I did.
00:12:29
Speaker
There was a fireplace in our fire. It was a fire in our fireplace. Oh, okay, yeah, fire in the fireplace. It's been a long day. It has. We had a fire in our fireplace.
00:12:40
Speaker
I was a dumb kid. I was like, i had my weeper wobbles in it, and I was flying around. I'm like, ooh, we can pretend like the plane crashed and caught on fire. And I threw it in the fireplace, and it went up.
00:12:52
Speaker
One day, crapped his pants. That's three hours worth of work. Yes. Oh, my goodness. So I don't have that anymore. have the submarine. Did you have the submarine? No, I didn't have the submarine. yeah That was something that you didn't want to have because it just sunk to the bottom. Yeah. Not the fun kind of toy. No, but that's what a submarine's supposed to do. right Oh, yeah, it's supposed to sink.
00:13:16
Speaker
Yeah. but I wanted it to float like a boat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not fun if it're just sitting at the bottom of the tub, That boring one. Yeah. totally. And then there was a treehouse. Yeah. A paper wobble treehouse. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember the treehouse.
00:13:27
Speaker
Magic Kingdom, the Cinderella Castle. Oh, I didn't know that one. didn't? No. Okay, so this one, it was kind of boring, but it was Disney. But it also had a plastic piece that would start it from one top, one end at the top. And it would wrap around and go down, spiral down, go to the other side, and end at the bottom.
00:13:48
Speaker
And you had a little car, two, one or two cars that we would fit in and it would just slide down. Yeah. oh that's so cool. And when we were kids, we loved that kind of stuff. Right? Especially things that slid and swooped around and drive. Yeah, that's great.
00:14:03
Speaker
Weeble wobbles, they wobble, but they don't fall down. I remember the commercials. We just didn't have the toys. But you know what? Laura, I know you've got a long flight ahead of you. I want to say thank you.
00:14:14
Speaker
It's great sitting, having a chat with you. i wish my listeners could have explored this and come down. Maybe some of them did. I think that's really cool, but I love this.
00:14:25
Speaker
Maybe they'll come back next Right? That's my goal. Or Hex here. Hex here. Yes. That's awesome. Well, thank you so much, boy. I appreciate it Thank you. and we'll see you next year. We'll see you next year. bow ah wow ah Okay, it's Josh. I'm back with another vendor and I'm speaking to... Amanda from My Pet Ghosty.
00:14:46
Speaker
Awesome. Thanks, Amanda. So what's your favorite Halloween memory? So it would be a memory from the 90s when I was kid. And my brother dressed up as Dracula.
00:14:57
Speaker
And I dressed up as a princess with those plastic masks on. And then my brother, my oldest brother didn't want to dress up. But like, we have a picture of it. It was probably like one of the only pictures from when I was a kid of us dressing up for Halloween.
00:15:10
Speaker
That's awesome. Well, thank you so much, man. I appreciate it. I hope having a great show. Thank you. two Our next guest is the season one winner of Netflix's.
00:15:21
Speaker
Is it cake? Andrew Fuller in demand cake sculptor food network judge and social media icon. Andrew also had some awesome Halloween memories to share with us.
Andrew Fuller on Halloween Inspirations
00:15:38
Speaker
Okay, so I am at the Great Canadian Halloween Market, and I'm here talking with one of our amazing guests that have has attended and entertained us today. So go ahead, introduce yourself.
00:15:51
Speaker
I am Andrew Fuller, season one winner of Netflix's international smash hit show, Is It Cake? And the owner of Sugar Freak Show Cake Studio in Des Moines, Iowa. That is so amazing.
00:16:02
Speaker
know, I'm an idol. celebrity. am truly an international. Because I've never been on Netflix. Treasure, I'm a treasure. ah Totally a treasure. So Halloween.
00:16:14
Speaker
What you love about Halloween? Halloween's my favorite thing in the entire world. I am definitely one of those, you know, they're like, he's really into Halloween. Like, really annoying. That's me. 365, seven days a week. This is not, this is, you can't see me, but this is how I look.
00:16:29
Speaker
Day in, day out. There's pictures on my site, so you worry. Yeah, and i I don't know. I just think that it's the the thing is, is it's that time of year where everybody gets to just forget about who they are, be somebody else, and it brings out the kid in everyone.
00:16:43
Speaker
And i I love that. And I just think we need more of it. yeah So I just wish every day was Halloween. And for me, it is. Yeah, totally. i mean And that's the whole thing. I mean, it should be. I don't trust people who don't like Halloween. No, no, I don't either. Like, that's weird. And it's like a tradition that we need to hold on to. Yeah.
00:16:58
Speaker
So I didn't grow up with Halloween, so I have to make up for lost time. Oh, good. Yeah. You're hardcore. So hardcore. Yeah. You should see my my front porch. i That's all i've been saying all day long today. I wish I could see his front porch.
00:17:10
Speaker
Right? Everybody says that. No, right? Everybody says that.
00:17:16
Speaker
so they Yes, that will be there. That's pretty iconic. So you check out my my social to get that fella in here. Right? I have a very big Same way they brought me in. Right? Stratzer?
00:17:27
Speaker
Beep! Beep! Sounds like an ambulance. so So Halloween's every day, all the time. When did you know that you were a lover of Halloween?
00:17:39
Speaker
Probably as a small child, honestly. Like, when I was like... I don't know. You know, um an 80s kid. And I feel like Halloween in the 80s was the... it was just the best time. Like, going going to all the haunted houses, doing the haunted hay rides. Yep.
00:17:56
Speaker
carving pumpkins. Like, to this day, I get so nostalgic carving pumpkins. It's just, it's just everything. And then, being a weirdo, day in and a day out, you know, it's like, it's the time of year where I get to kind of shine. Yeah. I have people ask me all the time, like, what do you look like? What do you dress up as Halloween? Because this is you daily, and I'm like, I look like you on Halloween.
00:18:16
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. No color, just black and white. Just boring. Some jeans and a saggy t-shirt. wear lot of beige. Yeah. Which is my, the to me, beige is the most terrifying thing in the world. Oh, it is. It's awful. I'm scared of it. It is. Yeah.
00:18:29
Speaker
So what do you do for Halloween then? When you get down to that day, you have a party? Do you celebrate? Do you decorate? It's kind of sad because these days when you kind of, believe it or not, I'm known for the Halloween stuff. So this my busiest time of year. So I don't really get to...
00:18:42
Speaker
have as much like free time fun however this year is my first well it's my first year doing a lot of international stuff like right now but i'm going to be in the uk for wait this year so i get to do a whole we're to like a jack the ripper tour to all the good but when i do have free time we like to throw big halloween parties at our house theme it out you can't come if you're not in costume and i think the more obscure the better you know really weird obscure costumes that don't make any sense to anybody but like one kindred spirit at the event. Yeah, totally. I used to have a rule that if you were going to dress up, you had to be something dead.
00:19:19
Speaker
like Perfect. So I was working... You're a librarian, but you've got to be a dead librarian. Totally. It was so funny because I worked in a clothing retail business and everybody just showed up and I'm like, you're not dead. I went as disco as dead.
00:19:31
Speaker
yeah it was awesome. I love that. Denim jumpsuit, bullet holes in my head. That's amazing. But I went around and put bullet holes in everybody else too because I'm like, well, you have to be dead. That's the rule. That's very kid-friendly.
00:19:42
Speaker
Yeah. Very American of you. Seriously. I say so myself. You're not going to let me back. and That's fine. I did Pee Wee Herman as well. also did. I had to do Ted Pee Wee. Well, not living. yeah he is the like He is honestly, Pee Wee Herman is one of my big regrets because i I hit the cusp of celebrity if you will yeah um right or like just just not at enough time before he passed because i got i got to meet tim bird oh my god yeah i mean that way he's like truly my biggest icon yeah got to meet him and it was really when i was ready to ask that question
00:20:19
Speaker
If you could have dinner with three people living your night, who would it be? And I was always Tim Burton, Pee-wee Herman, and Elvira. That's my dream. So I still have a chance to meet Elvira. Oh, yeah. Pee-wee's on my list, too. Well, he's dead now. I know. Well, it's the dead part, right? what The un undead party. There you go. That's awesome. Yeah.
00:20:36
Speaker
So when you were a kid, did you have a favorite toy that you liked the best? Oh, that is such a good question. great Yeah. My listeners like Toy Stories. Okay, so there was this little robot that...
00:20:48
Speaker
um that you put oil it's so weird they would never these things would not fly no but you put like oil in a little hole on top of his head and then that would make him smoke as he walked oh i sound like it was born in the 1920s but it really was that and then also i was obsessed with the back to the future franchise and i wanted a hoverboard really bad so my dad made me like a fake hoverboard and then he bought me um this toy hovercraft that like it would glide over water yeah it was kind of like a big nostalgic thing for me so that's really that's so cool that's amazing toys that's such a good such a good question
00:21:32
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I'm a toy collector, so I have a ton of stuff. like it What's your favorite toy? Am I allowed to ask you? you Yeah, you can. Can I interview you? I think my favorite toy of all time was Micronauts.
00:21:43
Speaker
What? So they were these little action figures. They were kind of a science fiction action figure made by Mego Toys. And they were translucent figures that had little ah exchangeable parts.
00:21:58
Speaker
So they were called time travelers. Okay. So, and then they came with all these ships that you could build and stick together and cities. you how do you collect those now? and No, I no longer do. I sold off my collection. I have two pieces left in my collection that I that i treasure.
00:22:12
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. That reminds me that I also, Creepy Callers. Do you remember Creepy Callers? Oh, yeah, creepy college that was like i think hands down that was my favorite toy on us yeah yeah totally and then those little tubes of that like toxic ca goo that you put on the end of a straw and you blow into it it makes a balloon yeah yeah yeah i totally know that another thing that would not fly these days no because i'm sure we've killed Totally, because I'm sure half the kids that we grew up with ate them.
00:22:37
Speaker
I'm sure they did. That's why we have the society we have now. Totally. They ate too much balloon goo. Yeah, that was kind of weird stuff. I think I knew somebody that had that, and it never really worked either. Oh, yeah, no. It would fizzle off. Yeah. Like, oh, okay, that would be fun. It was an art for sure. Yeah, totally.
00:22:54
Speaker
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for talking me today. Anytime. If you ever do a video one, I'm so pretty. Okay, absolutely. Next time. yeah Yeah, I'm not at the video stage yet. Get there! I'm working on it for season two.
00:23:07
Speaker
Don't call me. I'll call you. Okay, no problem. So nice to meet you. It was so great to talk to you. Thank you. yeah do Okay, I'm back. We've got another one of our vendors here who's going to share some more Halloween insights.
Autumn's Halloween Memories and Career Influence
00:23:21
Speaker
Who am I speaking to? Hi, I'm Autumn. I'm the owner of the Witch's Circle Shop. We're located in Newmarket, Ontario. Nice. So tell me what about your favorite Halloween memory?
00:23:32
Speaker
My favorite Halloween memory it was always my favorite because my grandma was um always into Halloween there and I was extremely close with her She would always dress up as a green witch well probably why I have such a good relationship with Bora here um And she actually scared the crap out of me as a kid dressed up as a green witch and now I do witchcraft for living That's a great memory. That's so awesome. I hope you're having a good show.
00:23:57
Speaker
Oh, it's absolutely amazing This is one of my favorite shows that we do here. This is our third year comings Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. Thank you.
00:24:09
Speaker
So, wow, that was an amazing Halloween episode.
Podcast Conclusion
00:24:13
Speaker
I can't thank the Great Canadian Halloween Market enough for letting me be there to share Halloween memories with vendors and the special guests.
00:24:23
Speaker
So, if you are in Ontario and you want to know more about the the Great can Canadian Halloween Market, you can certainly check it all out at their site, greatcanadianhalloween.com.
00:24:34
Speaker
That's all one word, greatcanadianhalloween.com. please go check out the special guest sites. ah They also have some great information about themselves. And if you want to learn more, you can go to nickalkarez.com. That's N-I-K-K-A-L-C-A-V-A-Z.com.
00:24:53
Speaker
For Andrew's Instagram site, you can go to sugarfreakshow. That is all one word, sugarfreakshow on Instagram. And of course, check out Bora at salemsblackhatsociety.org.
00:25:07
Speaker
and That's all one word, salemsblackhatsociety.org. Once again, listeners, so excited to have you back. So excited to share Halloween.
00:25:17
Speaker
And don't forget, you know where to find me on my social media. Check out pictures. Go to SpeakPipe. Looking forward to seeing you soon. You've been listening to Yabba Zonker Zoinks, a Gen X for Life podcast.
00:25:32
Speaker
Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any exciting episodes. You can reach out on Instagram at Gen X for Life podcast. That's Gen X number four life underscore podcast or send an email at Gen X for Life podcast, all one word, at gmail.com.
00:25:49
Speaker
I'd love to hear about your favorite Gen X Saturday morning memory, maybe a favorite toy or the cereal you just couldn't wait to tear into. Until then, have a Yabba Zonker Zoinks day, and I'll be back bright and early next Saturday morning.