The second annual Nerd Faire was one way to have fun even in our rainy, gloomy weather Saturday.
Billed as “a mini con for all things weird and geeky,” the convention was scheduled to run until 9:30 p.m. at the Lynnwood Convention Center.
Offerings include panel presentations, workshops, gaming, a cosplay contest, a story time with cosplay characters, and vendor booths.
The event included a special guest appearance by Grammy-nominated children’s singer Caspar Babypants.
“We’re very, very kid-friendly, so we have cosplayers doing story times and meet-and-greets for little kids,” organizer Sarah Mustain said. “We have some really fun panels that are interactive. Like this morning we had the Snohomish Northlanders in their full knight regalia, doing a sword fight. About to start is the boffing group. They do the same thing but with foam swords and shields.”
When asked what motivated her to have a convention in Lynnwood, she said: “I’ve done little vendor events, and in 2018, we were getting ready to go to a convention. And I was like, ‘Ugh, we always have to go to Seattle or Tacoma or Bellevue.’ And I got to thinking about it. And I was like, ‘Gosh, we have this amazing convention center in Lynnwood. And it’s a great area. It’s a very budding-family area. What would happen if we tried it (organizing a convention here).”
The first year of the convention drew 600 ticket sales. This year, that grew to 1,300. Also this year, the convention was on both levels of the building, not just one floor.
— Story and photos by David Carlos
My daughter and I totally enjoyed this event. We both attended the first event last year and I hope it continues to grow and grow at its current rate of more than doubling each year until it becomes a weekend-long event like other Con events that flourish in the Pacific Northwest area such as PAX, ComicCon and LinuxFest Northwest. I wish all the success to the creators, organizers and vendors who make the event happen each year.
If you are curious about the foam fighting just visit our website or our Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/KingdomBofferAssociation/
Nerd Faire has been great for our organization and the organizer Sarah is great to work with. We’ve attended both years and plan to for as long as they’ll have us.