Buffer Festival, Canada's first-ever YouTube-focused fest, is returning to Toronto for a second year, bringing the world's most-watched YouTubers to our city's downtown. (Well, except all of the ones who decided to go to VidCon this year instead. Curse you, Hank Green.) The fest falls on October 17-19 this year, bringing with it a weekend of screenings, performances, Q&As and meet-and-greets.

In honour of the fest, I've rounded up 10 YouTube personalities and channels you need to know from in and around the GTA (most of whom you'll be able to find at Buffer - check this year's schedule to find your fave).

Lilly Singh (iiSuperwomanii)
Thanks to some hilarious impressions of her parents and better-than-average takes on the "annoying people you meet" YouTube trope, Singh's generated a massive fan base (like "mobbed by screaming teens" massive). It's well-deserved - the woman can even make ranting about Air Canada's customer service funny.

Andrew Huang (songstowearpantsto)
You might know Andrew Huang from goofy viral tunes like this one, or link-baiting musical tricks (like that time he played the Breaking Bad theme using meth-lab equipment). But Huang's channel is full of immaculately-produced rap, electro, pop, and dubstep, along with high-wire feats of musical daring like composing a 26-genre song and rapping in 15/8 time (or in five different languages - see below).

Andrew Gunadie (gunnarolla)
Torontonians might know him for the Ballad of Rob Ford, but like Huang, Gunadie's similarly multifaceted, making Asian-influenced electro tracks and raunchy club bangers on his own channel and hosting an interactive live show, Like/Comment/Subscribe, at Nuit Blanche and NxNE. (The two team up regularly to record summer jams in their 'boy band' Dreamz and make up new license plate slogans.)

Corey Vidal (ApprenticeA)
In addition to masterminding Buffer Festival and running ApprenticeA, a successful video production outfit, Vidal does a little of everything - singing, beatboxing, dancing, acting, solving Rubik's cubes. Find him on his own channel (of particular interest to Star Wars fans), as well as in several years' worth of daily vlogs on the ApprenticeEh channel.

Matthew Santoro (MatthewSantoro)
Santoro does educational video lists of mindblowing scientific and historical facts on his massively popular channel (2,675,656 subs and counting). If you ever wanted to learn about the most haunted places in the world or inventors killed by their own inventions, he's your man.

Jasmeet Singh (JusReign)
JusReign has a few things in common with Superwoman: "most annoying people" skits, hilarious observations on Desi culture, and a last name (no relation!). Some of his best stuff takes some weirdly surreal turns, like in the vid below. (He's also been making forays into music, with a parody album in the works.)

Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown (ASAPScience)
While they don't technically star in the videos, Moffit and Brown boast one of Toronto's most-subscribed channels, at over 3 million viewers, thanks to their whiteboard-drawn animated answers to some of science's most enduring questions. Popular picks include an exploration of the chicken vs. egg debate (and, of course, childbirth vs. being kicked in the balls).

Shawna Howson (Nanalew)
Howson, based out of Cambridge, is an aspiring filmmaker best known for her music, personal vlogs, and collabs with best friend Meekakiity. She's also made some hugely popular unofficial music videos for Crystal Castles and AWOLNATION tracks.

Sabrina Cruz (NerdyAndQuirky)
High schooler Cruz is the youngest face on this list (and probably the most in line with the greater YouTube viewership), but she's got the stuff to charm viewers of all ages. Her spoofs of nerd culture and handy dating advice got her hand-picked by Hank and John Green of the Vlogbrothers to guest on their channel. She's like your awesome little cousin who grew up to be pretty cool.

4YallEntertainment
Jae Richards, Trey Richards, Wayne Ferd and Durran Ferd are the Bramptonians behind this up-and-coming comedy channel. Once a week, they poke fun at rappers, ballplayers and shoddy club pickup attempts, then prank each other with live crustaceans.

Who did I miss? Leave your favourite Toronto-area YouTube personality or channel in the comments.