CoosaCon is bringing games, costumes, celebs to Rome

Local and area fans of pop-culture and comic books can celebrate a day of fandom at CoosaCon, Rome’s own comic convention which comes to the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds on March 28.

Visitors will enjoy celebrity guests, actors and writers as well as gaming events, costume contests and discussion panels at the inaugural one-day event.

Founder and organizer George Kalnay said Rome is the perfect place for an event like this.

“Rome has a big gamer and fandom population,” he said. “There’s a lot of comic book collectors here. I think there’s a little bit of a vacuum in Rome for this. The people are here.”

Kalnay said the bulk of the event will take place in the main exhibits building at the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds and will feature 30 vendors as well as artists, guests and craftpersons. Special celebrity guests will greet fans, sign autographs, provide photo-ops, and participate in panel presentations.

Special guests will include include voice actor Carey Means from Cartoon Network’s “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” and “The Brak Show,” as well as artist June Brigman, co-creator of Marvel Comics’ Power Pack. There will also be several actors from AMC’s hit TV show “The Walking Dead.”

“We’ll also have actors from the television show ‘The Walking Dead,’ Kalnay said. “They’re not the big mainstream actors but each of them has been featured in episodes. They’ve been in other movies as well. They’re prolific working actors. We’ll be doing a panel with them tell stories of their work experiences on these shows and movies.”

Food trucks will be set up outside the main building and events will be going on all day.

“Rome Board Gamers will be hosting board gaming all day,” Kalnay said. “It’s a great local group and they’ll have tons of games there for people to learn about. These aren’t your typical mainstream board games. They’re oriented more toward fantasy and history. It’s a great chance to take your family and learn some new games.”

Scheduled events include the following:

The Walking Dead Actor’s Panel from 11 a.m. to noon, featuring Don Teems, Michelle Helmeczy, Greg Crews and Craig Patterson

Costume Contests for children (noon) and adults (1 p.m.)

Free Board-Gaming from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. hosted by the Rome Board Gamers group

Magic The Gathering tournament (Commander format) from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. – hosted by West Rome Trading Company

CoosaCon takes place March 28 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Exhibits Building at the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds located at 1400 Martin Luther King Jr., Blvd. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased by visiting online at www.coosacon.com/tickets. Tickets are also available at the gate.

Organizers are partnering with Pops! for Patients, a charitable organization that collects and donates Funko Pop! toys to children’s hospitals around the country. Visitors who bring a brand new Funko Pop! in the box will enter CoosaCon free.

Carey Means (center) and Eddie Price (right) will both be special guests at CoosaCon in March. Means is the voice of Frylock on Cartoon Network’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Price is an artist for Topps and Upper Deck. They both recently appeared on WDNN-TV’s “Talk with Connie” to promote the event.

June Brigman will be one one CoosaCon’s special guests. She is a cartoonist, drawing such comic book titles as “Alpha Flight,” “Supergirl” and “Star Wars.” She is the co-creator of the “Power Pack” series from Marvel Comics.

Rome Board Gamers will be at CoosaCon hosting a variety of fantasy and history games for visitors to learn and play.