This weekend I headed to my first ever Summer Con, I only went for one day but what a fun day it was!
I didn’t know what to really expect going into Summer Con on Saturday, and I’m so happy I went in blind. It made everything so much better! The only problem I ended up having was my poor navigation skills, which caused me to be lost for a good ten minutes before finding my way to the right parking lot and the entrance of the convention.
I really loved that the con offered free parking (right across the street from the entrance too!), and they did badge pickup right there in the parking lot. Very fast and not a long wait at all, and once badge was in hand, everyone just walked across the street into the fairgrounds. It was such a bigger space then I thought it would be, and I haven’t been there since I was very little.
They had three to four buildings as part of the convention, with a lot of vendors for foods and drinks outside in between them all. It was all very well placed, and there was lots to see outside too, some military was there to show off vehicles (and for people to pose with or get in) and they had people making wood sculptures for everyone to watch too! I was able to grab some good food, and some really great lemonade (very refreshing in the hot sun).
There was also a very nice shaded area that was great to take a break in and take some cool cosplay photos in. Lots of cosplay groups met up there, along with individual photoshoots. The cosplay presence was also very nice to see, everyone looked amazing. There were also so many younger kids there and whole families having fun. It was very heartwarming to see, and to top it all off everyone was very kind. I also got to see a lot of familiar faces in the multiple artist alley’s, my two favorite for One Piece art were there. Shoutout to Pluvialcaprcorn and Keruchii_, both of whom I ended up buying another round of merch from, not a single regret at all!
I didn’t end up making it to any of the panels (story of my life), but I had a great time walking around and talking with people and vendors. It was very much a stress free convention for me, and I really wished I had planned to (and was able to) go to more days this past weekend. It was just so much fun. The guest list was also insane, Avatar: The Last Airbender was one of the biggest parts of this con, along with Star Trek, My Hero Academia, and Death Note (which I just finished watching and need more of). This is a big reason why I wished I could have gone to the convention for more days, just to see all the voice actors and go to their panels too. I did get to see and make eye contact with the voice actor of L (Alessandro Juliani) from Death Note (one of my all time favorite anime guys). I also got to watch a chalk artist get through the second half of his piece he was working on for Summer Con, a giant mural of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was beautiful and he had put so much work and detail into it, I was and still am amazed.
Just from my one day at Summer Con has convinced me that I need to plan to go all three days next year and have even more fun than too! It was one of the best days I’ve spent at a con, and just from meeting and talking with so many new people (all who were super nice). If any of you are in the area next year, I highly recommend taking a break and coming to check out Summer Con!
Were you at Washington State Summer Con? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.
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