Anything They 'Con' Do: Erie Library Comic Con 2019

Saturday, April 27

Has April always been this good for geekdom?

Many of us are knee-deep in the glorious mire that is Game of Thrones' final (and so far, insanely compelling) season, while many more jumped on Avengers: Endgame tickets the second they were released for sale.

As if that weren't enough to satiate even the geekiest of appetites, the Bayfront once again becomes the setting for the Erie Library Comic Con, presented by the Erie County Public Library and the GeekERIE. The building and grounds of the Raymond M. Blasco Memorial Library will once again serve as the scene of so much nerd-on-nerd epicness (but really, why haven't they built a moat yet?).

Now in its fifth year, the Con has grown with every event, and 2019 is set to be the biggest and best to occur. Perhaps most astonishing, admission, the workshops, and the panels are all still 100 percent free, making it the perfect event for nerds big and little to come en famille, without having to take out a loan to attend.

Diana Prince, Erie's resident Amazon and the marketing director for the GeekERIE, commented, "Something new this year is the Teen Space…[the library has] such a great new space that will be open, where teens can grab info on classes and workshops coming up."

She went on, "We have the escape room pop-up this year, too, and we are excited about that."

Of course, along with new features, there will be the popular Retrocade once again, residing in the Admiral Room, tons of games, Magic the Gathering, D&D, a costume contest and panels, workshops (including Intro to Writing for budding wordsmiths), plus the eclectic vendor bazaar area, with all kinds of toys, merch, and handmade goods for sale.

If you get hungry, choose from the SorcErie, Kona Shaved Ice, Curry Point, A Waffle Miracle, or Fat Boy's Philly's food trucks.

To close out the Con, the final event will take a page from the Drunk History series, with a panel on hand at the Erie Movie House from 8:30 til 11 p.m., presenting "Drunken Origins." Watch as the excellent nerds of Erie, some of whom you may recognize, "get tanked and tell the audience a drunken origin of their favorite characters," Prince said.

But the heart and soul of this event lies within the heroes — un-caped — who populate the Erie County Library. Prince was sure to give them all the props, remarking, "Watching our Erie Library Comic Con grow over the past five years has been such a motivational experience…the staff at the library works so hard to accommodate us. We could not do this without them."

Well, Ms. Prince, Erie couldn't do without the library or the GeekERIE, who work tirelessly to bring the community together over a shared love of geekdom, literacy, and imagination. — Cara Suppa

9 a.m. to 4 p.m. // Blasco Memorial Library, 160 E. Front St. // Free // events.erielibrary.org