The first-ever Côte Saint-Luc Comiccon took place July 9 at the Harold Greenspon Auditorium, organized by teenagers via the Youth Advisory Group of the CSL Public Library.
Having attended the Montreal Comiccon many times over the years, it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm and excitement generated by our youth. Ably assisted by staffers Maria Ressina and Bronwen Cathey, our Library and Culture Committee member Anna Shi came up with and ran with the idea.
You can see my video interview with some of the organizers in this link or below.
Geek & Co., located at the CSL Shopping Centre, was a main sponsor and had a large both. "In addition to selling gaming and geek-related products, we have weekly gaming tournaments for Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and other games," said owner Alain Côte, "We get about 60 to 80 people per week coming to play our various games in our game room."
I met people like April Petchsri, selling her two bilingual comic books appropriately titled Poisson D’April . “It’s a slice of life,” she said, describing the books. “about my husband Max and our two cats.”
Nearby was Anna, who had her Stickmenext durable and cool looking anime lover peeker stickers . These high quality vinyl stickers have been tested to tough pressure washes, storms, ice and snow, and more! “You can put them on any surface and they will stay there,” she said.
I loved the booth of Boardgames N More (www.boardgamesnmore.com), a family based business. Founder and owner Vinay Menon opened thos online store on September, 2019. “We have a passion for playing board games and we want to share this with our community,” she says. “ We started the business as a family, two adults and three children. We provide local events for free in our community area to get families involved together and teach new games to everyone. We carry modern board games which are different from the traditional board games. These modern games are designed to fit all different types of board gamers, newbies to masters of board games. They can be played cooperatively and/or competitively, can be played solo to multiplayer and some in a story-telling manner-legacy games.”
Other tables sold posters, earrings, keychains, prints, acrylic charms, bookmarks, t-shirts, postcards , collectibles and more.
There was a photo booth as people entered and some comic book hero trivia games in the front of the room, with a moderator and guests seated in the front row watching the big screen. At the end of the day, a cosplay competition took place.
What a fabulous example this was of how a small idea can materialize at a meeting and thanks to Director of Library Services Janine West we were able to ensure it was properly followed up and came to be.
With one Comiccon under their belt, I hope that the youngsters on the committee will use this experience to even expand things in 2024 and bring more people aboard.
