What was this year’s edition of the erotic fair called Erofest (and yes, it’s a confusing name) like? Definitely spectacular and pretty wild. Perhaps the wildest in recent years. As last year, there was one main stage for live shows, a second stage for bondage/fetish at Bugshop, and then several smaller stages at individual exhibitors’ booths.
Thanks to the very detailed program, you knew exactly where to go and when, what to skip, and where to head next… The program was also displayed on several LED screens in the foyer, so we didn’t have to constantly hold a paper program in our hands.
And this year, too, our hostesses—painted from head to toe—were there… after a thousand condoms with our pink heart were gone in a flash (sniff—we didn’t have a single one left). Next time we have to bring more!
Live events you shouldn’t have missed
For us, as usual, the most interesting stage (though the live stage was catching up to it extremely fast this year) was Míla Bugtcher’s (we interviewed him). Once again, it featured the gorgeous tattooed “Mogirls” from MoMag (we’ve also interviewed them). Just imagine an erotic bondage/shibari with beautiful girls—both Bugtcher and our favorite rigger Edna were tying.
The booth for the erotic dating site Sex.cz (what a fitting name, right?) was also very popular, where from time to time an erotic oil massage would get underway with a pretty young but skilled lady.
Anyone who couldn’t resist could join in as the recipient of the massage. And there were plenty of them!
Once she was properly well-rested and sated with milk, the audience could admire the “kitty” locked in a hanging cage just a short distance from the Sexíčekshop booth. She received an incredible amount of attention. Well-known Prague adult entertainment venues Goldfingers and Darling Cabaret also held their own mini-shows (on their smaller stages) or full-scale performances on the main stage—growing bigger and more spectacular year after year.
Most recently, a large Ritch Bitch pickup truck with dancers proved quite a hit—the soap show featuring the ladies in their see-through, soaked tops was guaranteed to draw attention!
The program kept building and building
In recent years, our magazine has been a bit more inclined toward fetish/BDSM than before—so, as usual, we enjoyed the events at Bugshop the most, and definitely also the phenomenal fetish show on the main runway! Latex, leather, harnesses, gorgeous bodies—it’s hard to put such an experience into words. The individual pieces were from both vendors and designers—to name a few, Simon O, Sikra, Lady AnaHell, Born in Porn, and others. We posted a quick final video during the event on our Lascivious Instagram and Twitter profile – check it out! We definitely won’t miss the follow-up OtherDress event at Kotelna on March 2–3 !
By the end of the evening, pretty much all the women (including part of our editorial team, which arrived in a group of over 10) had shouted themselves hoarse during striptease by the traditionally fantastic SixxPaxx. And even as a man, I have to admit that their performances are brilliantly choreographed and musically arranged. It was fun for me to watch 🙂
And what about the girls by the stage? When the performance wasn’t enough for them, they received an invitation to a bigger and more intense show, which will take place in Prague in the new year.
Sex toys under the microscope
Among the larger exhibitors, Sexíčekshop.cz was present with an accompanying booth focused solely on the German brand Fun Factory. The main booth featured classics such as Satisfyers, Womanizers (including newer models like the Starlet and Premium). There was also a booth featuring the Ladies Master brand, which was new to us but won us over with its design (black silicone and gold accents), vibration power, and the range of its remote control. The creator (who personally demonstrated the individual items to us—penis rings, “_blank”>vibrating eggs, …) definitely had something to be proud of – even with a price well below the luxury class, with sufficient marketing, he would make a splash in the world of eroticism! We need to take a closer look at this brand soon. There was also a booth with realistic sex dolls from Sexdolls.cz.
The fun “swings for big girls” were back again this year, though they could have had more action-packed hostesses, and a product like this practically begs for a live show; otherwise, people walk past it with curiosity (but Czech shyness) and don’t ask for details.
In terms of toys, the Prague fair lagged behind Berlin (even though it’s called a trade fair), but this is also due to the size of the Czech market compared to the German one, as well as the number of vendors. Another factor is that in the Czech Republic, almost no brand promotes itself directly, but only through sex shops.
Surprisingly, the Czech company Whoop.de.doo was missing here. In Germany, there were Fun Factory, Mystim, and many others that are essentially “at home”…
Swing, swing…
Back in Berlin, we saw Lust and Joy an inflatable swing with a dildo attached. A great idea that drew attention, but for better promotion, a toy like this needs to be paired with a live show. That’s what draws people in—showing the toy in action—similar to what Růžovýslon is considering, which also has live videos and, thanks to them, allows customers to imagine how the toy is used. And it works!
We were very pleased with the offer from a new Czech brand with global ambitions TheWonderToys.com – they manufacture their own silicone dildos just a short distance from Prague. There wouldn’t be anything special about that, but these are extremely wild—vibrant rainbow colors, lots of protrusions, always a strong suction cup, inspiration from the fantasy world, sci-fi, … it’s hard to describe, so check out our toy gallery from Erofest, you’ll definitely recognize those toys.
Porn stars, where did you go?
There were also individual booths for porn stars and actresses – to name a few, there were the Czech twins DellaiTwins (we’ve already interviewed one of them), the Asian babe Pussycat, and you could also catch Tarra White, the ever-adorable Little Caprice (the face of Erofest), …
Also present were: Terra Twain, Angel Wicky, Daisy Lee, Florane Russel, Barbara Bieber, Lady Dee, Lady Bug, Shroma Malati, Blanche Bradburry, Daphne Klyde, Cynthia Vellons, as well as the girls from White Models, …
Robert Rosenberg was also there, once again promoting a cast of his penis in the form of a BOOM dildo (via review) – most often you could find him at the Dámská jízda booth. And of course, Dr. Radim Uzel also contributed his witty remarks on the main stage.
How did this year’s Erofest 2018 in Prague go?
This has never happened to us before… certainly not at Czech events, but we were really satisfied. We haven’t missed a single Czech erotic fair or festival since 2010, and we’ve also visited the renowned Berlin VENUS several times.
So we have the opportunity to truly compare across years, organizers, and countries. And this time, it really clicked. We met with the organizers of Prague’s Erofest this year in Berlin, where they were on a secret “scouting trip,” and it paid off for them. They learned from previous organizers as well as their own experiences from recent years, and it was worth it.
It’s unusual for us, but we don’t have many major complaints—it was well-handled in terms of programming, content, and space. Given the number of people, I think Erofest could handle even larger venues next year (certainly in terms of content and exhibitors—and perhaps financially as well). Or even one large hall like this one and a second one with a different program.
They already handled it well, with people moving from one place to another, walking around the booths, … strolling everywhere, so it was always lively everywhere, the booths didn’t really have any weak spots from our perspective, those small live-show stages were strategically placed in the corner, on the opposite side from the main stage. Great move.
Of course, a lot of people breathe a lot of air, so it was more crowded in some spots, but the organizers ventilated the space quite flexibly (the AC wasn’t really cutting it, in my opinion),
but I think they were actually surprised by the huge influx of visitors on Saturday when we arrived with our troupe, and we did too.
Others’ opinions
Agrrr:
I have to point out up front that I’ll be comparing this a lot to the erotic fairs my husband and I used to go to back in the days when it was held in Holešovice. Back then, we used to go there regularly and enjoyed it, despite the gradually noticeable decline in quality.
We didn’t head to the fair until Saturday, and not until around two in the afternoon, and I have to say that the number of people there surprised both of us. And despite the crowds, I have to say that the staff, security, hostesses, and all the workers were surprisingly nice. Yes, some were tired, but still nice. Compared to the old days in Holešovice, it was really very much focused on the SHOW, entertainment, and exhibition (this part used to be separate and paid for separately in Holešovice).
The Brazilian dancers were amazing; I personally had to admire them greatly, because not only did they look beautiful, fabulous, and toned, but most importantly, they really knew how to dance, and it was a divine sight. The “SUKUBA” show was also amazing (personally, I admired and swooned over the costumes more than the lead performer), and the subsequent fire show was breathtaking. There were plenty of side events off the main stage.
Upstairs, there were also events in the men’s, women’s, and mixed zones. We didn’t make it to the men’s zone, the women’s zone unfortunately didn’t interest me, and as for the mixed zone, given the huge turnout and the rather restless crowd, we not only couldn’t get in but also decided to avoid it altogether. Although the overall behavior of the visitors was surprisingly laid-back.
There was even another event associated with this one, the 4Men Expo, so there was a place to go for a moment to catch your breath over some hot chocolate and let the men get groomed at the Barber Clinic (I must praise their thoroughness and helpfulness)
However, there are a few points I must criticize.
The aisles and passageways were too narrow. Especially at the entrance to the erotic section, where right at the start there was a stage showcasing various types of bondage, or punishments and right across from it a booth offering autographs and photo ops with models. And just three meters away, a pickup truck with a portable pool and three petite blondes washing each other…
Compared to the old days, there were also fewer sales booths, and the vast majority of booths had the same products. For me, this somewhat diminished the diversity.
Ventilation. I have absolutely no idea how ventilation—or any kind of exhaust system—was handled at the fair. I felt this problem even more acutely in the dining area and in the 4Men section, where during the motorcycle demonstrations the machines were running at full throttle, the engines were revved, and there really was no exhaust for the fumes (and those fumes made their way all the way to the dining area). This needs to be addressed by next time, and not just for the sake of comfort.
But despite the two problems mentioned above, the Erofest experience was amazing, and we both honestly enjoyed it.
Partner Agrrr:
It was great to meet the actresses, the VIP zone was poorly located, and unfortunately there was always a huge line for the coat check.
Tester Aly:
I have to admit that I didn’t expect much from this year’s Prague Erofest, but maybe that’s why I ended up being quite excited about it 😀
In any case, this event also had its “BUTS.” I see the biggest problem as the area around Míla Bugtcher’s stage. I totally get that all those people were having fun (I enjoyed it too and could have watched it for hours), but they completely blocked the aisle, and getting to the other exhibitors was quite a challenge. What made it worse was that the stage was right by the entrance, so you could barely move at the entrance.
I was also a bit bored as I walked through the toy booths—yes, they were beautiful, and I really liked that most had a unified design, but with a few exceptions, I felt the vendors at the booths lacked initiative. Most of the time, they only approached you once you already had a toy in your hand.
Plus, the selection of toys and exhibitors seemed pretty limited to me. I totally get that the market can’t churn out something new every minute, but when there is a new product on the market, I’d show it off and introduce it to the visitors. Here at the Fun Factory booth, they managed to hide the Manta masturbator among the other vibrators, so if we hadn’t tested this masturbator recently (and I hadn’t been specifically looking for it there), I wouldn’t even have noticed it.
But as I wrote at the beginning, I have mostly positive memories of Erofest, and I have to say that the organizers very skillfully managed to handle the huge number of people. I had a great time at the live stage program (unlike my partner, it interested me much more than the bondage 🙂. And I’m grateful that the organizers managed to bring in the guys from Sixx Paxx—Bravo! Although it’s a shame they had their own footage playing on the screens—at 160 cm tall, I’d rather have seen half-naked men 😀
And what to say in conclusion? There are still a few things that could be improved, but if Erofest performs as well in the coming years as it did this year, Berlin’s Venus can go take a hike, because it won’t stand a chance against this competition!
More reports (we’re adding them gradually):
Your opinions 2 opinions
In any case, it’s great that someone is organizing this. All we can do is look forward to next year’s event…
We’re already looking forward to next year—it was a very pleasant surprise to see what has emerged here in the Czech Republic.
As I do every year, I’ll add my two cents this year as well. As for the program, it’s great—I have no complaints. However, unfortunately, this is still not a trade show but rather a showcase. And I’d say it was worse than last year. Last year, I was criticized for saying that our market isn’t as big as Germany’s. That’s true, but not entirely! A few lines above, someone mentioned the era of trade fairs held in Holešovice. There were many exhibitors there, new products were showcased, and there was even a cheap mini-market like the ones we know from Berlin. For a long time, I racked my brain trying to figure out why it doesn’t work today when it did back then. This year, I understood…. The sex shop completely dominates the fair and has a monopoly on it. And I must sadly note that it sold its goods at exorbitant prices. So unless the organizers shed their parochial mindset, create better conditions, and attract more vendors, this event will remain nothing more than a showcase of strip shows and other performances. Not a prestigious fair. Even this year, I found a few frustrated first-timers who were at this event for the first time and expected something completely different. If you can walk through the booths in 20 minutes and have nothing else to do at the fair besides the program, that’s just wrong! Our market may be small, but it’s also colorful and diverse. Personally, I think other vendors like Růžový Slon, Erotic City, sexshop.cz, etc., shouldn’t be missing.
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback—there were several vendors there, not just Sexíček; others included sexshop.cz for “Ladies’ Night” and a few smaller ones at the surrounding booths. In Germany, it’s not much better; the brands themselves take center stage as exhibitors, and of the sex shops/resellers, I only remember Eis.de—it’s more diverse there mainly because of the brands exhibiting directly, which also have the best booths, prices, contests, etc.
By the way, the purchasing power of Czechs isn’t anything to write home about; sex toys are low-turnover goods, usually on the pricier side, so personally, I wouldn’t expect a huge sales frenzy even at the big shops. I’d take issue with the price tags; we went through them and they weren’t extreme at all. I know our segment from the wholesale side too, and those price tags simply had a healthy margin built in. No one can get mad about that—if someone wants to undercut prices, they’re screwing up the market for everyone, and they’ll usually go broke anyway because it’s an unsustainable model.
In our opinion, it’s definitely inappropriate to call it a trade fair; it’s simply a festival (plus products from a few sex shops), but since that’s how it’s set up now, we’ll stick with it. I think this year’s edition was a real turning point (in terms of attendance, entertainment, and scale), and I expect a lot of exciting new developments next year.