Yes, I was there... and it was amazingly FUN! After two days I'm still reeling from the excitement, not only because fellow geeks were all under one roof sharing our love of pop-culture, but what a great response this event received!
Local media is still buzzing about the success of Stockton-Con and it may not mean much to outsiders but Stockton really needed some positive press. It kind of made me forget the crime that is happening in my city, even just for a moment.
I only heard about Stockton-Con the Friday before the event and the feeling of deciding to attend the event was comparable to deciding to see a movie as a last resort for entertainment. I decided to park about two blocks away to avoid paying for parking (I think it was free, but I didn't want to risk it because I wanted to save my dollars), and we trekked our way to the A.G. Spanos building. As we were walking west towards the building around 1:30 p.m. I noticed many people walking away from the building. I thought, "Great, there probably isn't much to see...". We round the corner and there is a line of about 50 people waiting for tickets. Outside the doors, people dressed up as Batman, Poison Ivy, Indiana Jones, Captain Jack Sparrow, Spiderman, and so on... I look down at mine and my sons clothes and I immediately regret not dressing us up more because my 3 year-old son has a killer mask collection. We go in and the place is packed with people. My son spots the Ghostbusters from across the stadium and we go there first. I have never seen my son so excited about his favorite movie!
I went over to a couple of my friends booths in Artist's Alley and bought some comics and prints. Great talent, by the way, who's work I will post about later. Many artists doing sketches and promoting themselves. Support your local artists!
I don't think the event coordinators, vendors, artists, volunteers knew it was going to have such a great turnout and the fact that it surpassed their and our expectations brings hope yet to Stockton. Expectation - 500 attendees, turnout- THOUSANDS.
Anyway, there is so much more to say about the experiences I had in those few hours that I was there but I would rather encourage all you fellow superhero, art, and collector fans to attend next year (no official announcement yet on the future of Stockton-Con, but how can they not?). Also, it should be mentioned that Stockton-Con donated it's proceeds to the St. Mary's Dining Hall and the United Way of SJC. It was an overall great experience with a positive vibe pre- through post-.
