The Epic Party 2026: the best night we've ever thrown for the Shopify community
News
July 29, 2026
Olya Kryvonos
On July 20, Zapiet took over Greta Bar in Toronto for the YOLO Party, the follow-up to last year's sold-out Epic Party, and somehow the follow-up went bigger. A lion dance. A snake that refused to leave. A drag queen who brought the house down. An Elton John tribute that ended in confetti cannons. And, somewhere in the middle of all of it, the reveal we'd been teasing for weeks: Zapietousaurus Matcha, the newest member of the Zapietousaurus family.
If this was your first Zapiet party: welcome. If it wasn't: you already knew it'd be like this. See the full photo gallery here.
The dance floor at full tilt, gold sparks, green everywhere, and not a single person sitting down.
Green, from the dress code down
Guests showed up in green, as instructed, and the whole night leaned into it. Green lighting. A glam station in the bathrooms stocked with glitter and temporary tattoos. Branded touches everywhere you looked, from mascot swag to hand cream to a full "EPIC" and "PARTY" letter stage built out of balloons.
Then Emili Horncastle, Zapiet's co-founder, CMO, and Creative Director, took the stage early on, and that's when it happened: the reveal, at last, of Zapietousaurus Matcha. Now everyone in the room knew exactly why they'd shown up in green.
Elton, the dinosaur, and half the room, all in the same photo. Somehow this makes total sense if you were there.
A lion dance, lettuce, and a very large snake
Then came the lion dance: a full traditional performance from dancers in Zapiet-branded t-shirts, throwing lettuce first at our sponsors by name, then out into the wider crowd, a nod to the prosperity tradition behind it. Partway through, a very real, very large snake made its first appearance of the night. It didn't leave. It stuck around for photos with pretty much everyone, all night long, and quietly became the unofficial guest of honor.
Mid-performance, mid-crowd, and every phone in the room out at once.
Messy Margaret, Elton John, and a dance floor that never stopped
From there, the energy only climbed. Drag queen Messy Margaret took the mic for a lip sync set that had everyone up out of their seats.
The queen herself, Messy Margaret, mid-number, flag and all.
An Elton John tribute act followed, closing out with a burst of cold sparks that turned Greta Bar into one giant photo op.
Green sequins, a red boa, and a graffiti wall behind him. Sir Elton was not here to blend in.
Glow sticks came out. The DJ took over. And since Greta is an arcade bar, more than a few people ended the night with a high score instead of a hangover.
Thank you to the sponsors who made it happen
None of this comes together without the partners who backed it:
🥇 AppMaker by StarApps — Platinum sponsor, powering no-code app building for Shopify merchants.
💎 Recurpay — the subscriptions app helping Shopify merchants build recurring revenue.
💎 EnableAll — a Shopify-native plugin offering stronger accessibility compliance at a global level.
💎 Cleverific — A Shopify-native plugin offering stronger accessibility compliance at a global level.
Eleven years in, and still going strong
Eleven years building Zapiet, and nights like this party are why we do it. Thank you to everyone who showed up, danced, sang along, and made this one unforgettable. Whether there's a third one, we're not saying yet. But if the last two are anything to go by, we hope you'll be there for it.
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