Where do you get your talking veggie, spoken word, and adventure travel fix all in one place? YouTube. If you love YouTube, you would have loved Buffer Festival, the event that celebrates all the site has to offer and showcases the latest work of the most successful YouTube creators from across the world.
This year, the festival ran from October 23rd to 25th, enjoying a successful third year of operation since its beginning in 2013. Pioneered by Corey Vidal, known on YouTube as ApprenticeA, the festival featured events such as workshops, meetups, screenings, and a red carpet walk leading to the main event, the Gala Premiere.
Held on October 23 at Roy Thomson Hall, Excalibur got the chance to attend the premiere for a sneak peek at the most anticipated videos to grace computer screens in homes around the globe this year.
Packed with stars and fans alike, the concert hall filled with people coming together to support YouTube’s top creators. Comedic duo and successful YouTubers Mike Falzone and Akilah Hughes paired up to host the event, occasionally stepping aside from their giggle-inducing antics to allow attending YouTube stars to introduce featured videos.
The audience heard from acclaimed creators as Craig Benzine (Wheezy Waiter), Louis Cole (Fun for Louis), Suli Breaks (sulibreezy), and Adrianna DiLonardo and Sarah Rotella (The Gay Women Channel), to name a scant few.
Film clips, live performances, and stage selfies were the focus of the night. As for the films, new works of stunning quality were introduced, including a first glance at Sawyer Hartman’s dramatic new film The Parallax Theory, and the latest episode of KickThePJ’s Oscar’s Hotel series with talking veggies.
However, not all was sneak peaks and early viewings. The audience was treated to a screening of Jasmeet Singh (JusReign) and Timothy Delaghetto’s year-old video Bounce, whose four glorious minutes of thrusting dance moves and awkward twitching claimed the most laughs of the evening.
Live performances brought the event off-screen as well to showcase the unedited talent of YouTube artists. Acapella singer Peter Hollens took to the stage to perform Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire,” complete with backup chorus and accompaniment from his own YouTube video.
To finish off the night, ThePianoGuys performed a Swahili rendition of Coldplay’s “Paradise” and brought the crowd to their feet with their original song “Heart of a Lion.” The song perfectly summed up the festival’s core message: while being a YouTuber is still not a widely acknowledged and accepted profession, people must be fearless in doing what they love, and must have the courage to create.
As Buffer Festival takes a break to load up on some new material for next year, surf on over to YouTube to catch the latest works of your favourite creators. From the variety of new content showcased at the festival this year, there’s sure to be a video to strike your fancy, coming to a computer screen near you.

Madelaine Pries, Staff Writer
Featured image courtesy of BufferFestival