Nerds, rejoice.
Steel City Nerdcon 2018 is a little more than a week away, as a number of video game, toy and comic book vendors will be descending upon Sault Ste. Marie in order to peddle their collectibles on Sept. 29.
Organizer Michael Turcotte, who is also the owner of Vintage Games ‘N Junque, says that he’s trying to appeal to a broad range of people by bringing together a number of different pop culture genres, such as anime and cosplay, together under one roof.
“The whole idea was just kind of make it diverse, so it wasn’t limited to just video games, for example,” said Turcotte. “So try to have a little bit of everything.”
The one-day congregation of nerds and nerd-related collectibles will be located behind Vintage Games ‘N Junque on Queen Street East, in what used to be the garage for Western Tire.
“We rented all those bays, and all the vendors will be inside,” Turcotte said. “We did that on purpose, primarily because it was at our place of business, and we wanted to make sure that we had more control that way.”
“We called it Steel City Nerdcon because we’re a steel city and we have that industrial feel, so the bays kind of seemed to fit in with that, because they’re the old industrial garage bays.”
Turcotte has brushed off the idea of hosting an event like this in the past.
“Sudbury has the Northern Game Expo, and I’ve always said leave it to Sudbury, because they’re the hub,” Turcotte said. “They’re like the epicenter between the Sault and Toronto.”
But just this past summer, Turcotte decided to test the waters with the Last Minute Mini Expo event, which saw a number of vendors bring their vintage games, action figures and comic books to the Sault for an event that took Turcotte only a week to organize.
“There was at least 500 people that went through that day, with one week notice just posting on my Facebook,” Turcotte said. “So that was kind of an indication that hey, you know what, there might be some local interest for people, and we’re all about trying to bring things local.”
During the Last Minute Mini Expo, Turcotte told SooToday that he’d like to try and bring 15 to 20 vendors to the Sault for Steel City Nerdcon 2018.
Now, Turcotte says that 31 vendors - from Toronto, Sudbury, North Bay, Timmins and Thunder Bay - have confirmed their appearance at the convention, and VIP tickets for the event sold out in just two weeks.
The convention has also received the support of local sponsors, which helped Turcotte get his hands on a number of prizes that will be given away during Steel City Nerdcon.
“On our end it’s already a success, if you know what I mean,” Turcotte said. “All of our vendors have committed and they’re coming.”
All Turcotte needs now is numbers for this year’s event in order to make the Steel City Nerdcon a permanent fixture in the Sault.
“The only way that this is not going to be a success is community attendance, right? It’s very important, and this is what we tell everybody: It’s important to show up and show your support,” said Turcotte. “If the numbers are there and if the interest is there, we’ll do it next year, and next year we’ll do a bigger venue, but if the numbers aren’t there and the interest isn’t there, then it’s just not going to happen again.”
Steel City Nerdcon 2018 takes place Saturday, September 29 from 12-6 p.m.
