Emerald City Comic Con was so much fun this year, I really liked some of the new stuff they added to the convention, and expanded on. Last year there was a “tavern” area where attendees that were 21 and over could get into the beer garden and play games of D&D.
This year was similar, except they went all out and made a huge ballroom on the top floor be the tavern and a mini ren faire. This was super fun to walk through and explore!
They had a giant glowing mushroom off to one side and other little nooks that were really cool for people to just chill out. They also had some books and games that attendees could play with friends. The room was also dimly lit and added more to the theme and accentuated the fairy lights (and giant glowing mushroom). There were a good amount of stalls you would normally see at a ren faire, which was a nice touch and gave the space a mini ren faire vibe (along with whimsy).
I thought it was super cool seeing people in cosplay getting henna done at one of the booths, and right next to it people were getting their hair braided and flowers woven into it. It makes for a whimsical look and is just really relaxing.
This also fit the theme of having guests from Critical Role at the convention too, and lots of meet ups for D&D. The photos I’ve seen from these meetups are out of this world, the details are just so cool!
They also had set up a trinket table for people in this section, leave a trinket-take a trinket. I saw lots of people surrounding the table and going through their pockets for any type of trinket they could leave. It also seemed like people were keeping honest and not taking anything without giving, which is refreshing to see. The table itself had so many little cute trinkets, I really wish I had had something on me I could have left, but there were lots of little hand made stars and other little handmade gifts.
One of the guests who was doing a lot of shows at Emerald City Comic Con was Jack the Whipper, who you normally only see at ren faires. So, it was super cool to take in his show at a convention and he was super fun to watch.
I hope they keep up this small pocket of whimsy at ECCC in the future, it was just a really cool space for relaxing and getting away from all the bustle on the lower floors. It was also nice to see a lot of families having a nice time in this area too and showed that Emerald City Comic Con is a very family friendly convention.
Did you check out this area at Emerald City Comic Con? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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