Micaela Parojino
Special to In Motion
If there’s a type of person who loves comic books, literature or zombies, then there’s a convention in Florida waiting. Conveniently, Geeky Con (literature), and Walker Stalker Con (zombies) all happen to be coming to Florida in the next coming months at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Mega Con (anime/comic books) is also held at the Orange County Convention Center, but it won’t return for its four-day run until May 26-29.
from inside her Sonic the Hedgehog
costume during the activities.
Mega Con is by far the biggest Florida Convention and is held every spring. The convention is where fans can let their inner geek shine, and wear a costume from a favorite TV show and not be judged. Some Mega Con fans spend thousands of dollars working on their one of a kind costume to wear for the now four-day event, which last occurred on April 10-12, 2015.
But there is no shortage of conventions in the greater Orlando-Daytona Beach area. Dozens are listed at http://www.conventionscene.com/schedules/by-location/united-states/florida/
This month, March 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will host the Daytona Beach Comic & Toy Convention at the ICI Center, 601 S. Clyde Morris Blvd. Admission is $5 and information is available at 258-6333. Daytona State College just finished its first FalconCon event at the News-Journal Center, which attracted gamers of all descriptions.
Costume wearing isn’t one of the only reasons why more and more people are being attracted to Orlan do’s Mega Con, short for Mega Convention, which also features replicas of items shown on the various television shows and movies and offers meet-and-greets with celebrities from hit TV shows such as “The Walking Dead,” “Arrow,” “Firefly” and “The Flash.” They can also mingle with people who have the same taste in pop culture.
“In 2015 we had around 60,000 people show up to this three-day event and due to the expansion we’re doing next year; hopefully will have even more people attend,” explained Jason Smith the director of Operations for Mega Con.
At Geeky Con (formally known as Leaky Con), “Harry Potter,” “Hunger Games,” “Divergent” and fans of other book fandoms unite for a three-day weekend on July 4th through Aug. 2 by having dance parties, a charity ball where all proceeds’ go to the Ester Earl Foundation. But the icing on the cake is being able to meet the authors of popular books such as Veronica Roth, author of the “Divergent” series.
“Geeky Con is the best place to go to connect with people who love the same books. It’s fun and a great way to spend the week,” said Sabrina Kirk who attended Geeky Con in 2014.
For all zombie lovers there’s a convention where people will find fans of all ages dressed up as either a zombie, their favorite character altered into a zombie or a zombie killer. Walker Stalker Con is one of the only conventions that focus only on zombies and sci-fi, and the hit television show “The Walking Dead”. Similar to the other conventions, at this two-day event, people can find fans with the same love for zombie and sci-fi, and also meet celebrities from various zombie and sci-fi television shows. Walker Stalker Con occurs on June 27-28.
If anyone would like to purchase tickets or learn more about the conventions mentioned in this article, go to: Mega Con (http://megaconvention.com), Geeky Con (http://www.geekycon.com), and Walker Stalker Con (http://walkerstalkercon.com/orlando/).