Geeking out
CaperCon brings fans together in Sydney BY ERIN POTTIE CAPE BRETON POST
When it comes to geeking out it’s best to involve the whole family.
That’s the message from organizers of the fourth annual CaperCon, which over the weekend brought together sci-fi and comic book fans, along with gamers and costumed superheroes.
Vice-chair of the event Julie Dakai said the three-day fan convention is fun for the whole family.
“I love that I’m seeing Harry Potter, I’m seeing Adventure Time, I’m seeing Jurassic Park,” Dakai said. “It’s great to bring fans together because you find: ‘Oh you love Harry Potter, I love Harry Potter’ and you make friendships and it helps everything.”
Dakai said the number of cosplay participants is on the rise, along with the number of families attending.
She said her generation grew up without a local convention, so volunteers created CaperCon as an outlet for their fandom.
“We created it for the community because we needed it,” she said.
“My friends and I got into the whole anime and convention thing back in like junior high, high school. And back then it was a dream to go to Anime North, which is one of the larger cons, and it’s just not affordable because you need the plane ticket and you need the hotel and we were like 15 or 16 — that’s just not feasible.”
On Saturday, organizers expected about 2,000 visitors to stroll through the doors of Centre 200.
First-time CaperCon attendee Jenna Martell of New Waterford took part in Saturday’s events with her husband Stephen and their three children.
The couple’s oldest son, Evan, has a knack for drawing so they brought him a sketch event with Nick Bradshaw — an Atlantic Canadian artist currently working for Marvel.
“To get an idea that there is artwork that can be a life journey and career,” Jenna said when asked why she wanted the 11-year-old at the event.
“It was really interesting, and all the presenters gave tips on what to do and how to nurture your craft and to go through and keep practising and not give up.”
A longtime volunteer of the event, Amanda Stone said she’s met a wide variety people while helping out with the exhibits.
“Each year it just grows bigger,” Stone said. “It’s just so nice to see the people that come out and enjoy the convention. We do this for the people and it’s just fun to see everybody in costume.”
As part of this year’s event there was a premiere of the movie “Camp Death III in 2-D,” a comedy/horror parody written and directed by Matt Frame along with a Harry Potter-inspired play, called “The Magical Retelling of the Fountain of Fair Fortune” directed and written by Jule Ann Hardy.
The event also included two prominent Canadian actors: Scott McNeil, who plays Southside Serpent Tall Boy on “Riverdale”; and Greg Bryk who has appeared in “Frontier,” “Handmaid’s Tale,” and “Bitten.” CaperCon also featured demonstrations, tournaments, board and video games, question-andanswer sessions, an exhibitor area and plenty of panels on just about everything.