Calgary Expo helping fans find their communities

The Calgary Expo has returned to the BMO Centre, and if early counts from the Thursday sneak-a-peak night hold throughout the weekend, will be one of the busiest in recent years.

What lies in store for fans this year is more booths, more vendors, and more opportunities for Calgarians to find like-minded people interested in the same things as they are.

“It’s all about community. It’s about bringing passionate fans together to celebrate all things fandom and it really does feel electric,” said Andrew Moyes, Vice President of FanExpo HQ, which runs the Calgary Expo.

“There’s also that excitement about the new building, too. You can see that we’ve really leaned into the fact that next year, the show is going to grow again with this extraordinary new [BMO Centre] facility. But there’s so much to see and do this year.”

Among the things Moyes said would be must-sees for 2024 was the annual Parade of Wonders, which allows Calgary cosplayers to parade down the centre of Stephen Avenue with their finest costumes.

That parade was marshalled by Calgary comic book legend Todd McFarlane, who founded Image Comics.

“We’ll have 1000s of people walking down Stephen Avenue tomorrow, which is a really nice way to immerse yourself. And then we’ve got a great kid zone, something for the whole family to do, and come and meet some of the stars,” Moyes said.

This year’s lineup includes most of the cast of horror franchise Scream, along with other celebrities like Elliot Page, John Rhys-Davies, and Jason Lee.

“You don’t want to miss out and everyone’s talking about it. It’s the second largest event in this city, so it really is touching so many different places,” said Moyes.

Growing communities near and far

Calgary Expo will draw thousands of visitors to the BMO Centre over the weekend, which means it’s also an attractive place for groups looking to grow their communities.

One of those groups is the Heavy Armoured Combat Sport Association, which combines real-life period accurate medieval arms and armour with modern sporting sensibilities creating one of the most action-packed combat sports in the nation.

Rene Denoir, a member of team Hacksaw, was at the Expo to promote the sport while wearing an authentic brigandine set of armour that would have been used in the 15th Century.

“It’s definitely growing and getting more interest. People are coming to see it, be involved in it, and the crowds are getting bigger. We love having big crowds and it’s a very different feeling when you come in, you have a big crowd shouting, and everyone is excited,” he said.

Denoir, along with other HACSA athletes, said that they would be putting on demonstration matches throughout the weekend at the expo.

The overlap, he said, was considerable between people who are interested in authentic medieval life and fantasy media like Dungeons and Dragons.

Getting people to take a visit to a place that is both steeped in fantasy—in this case, science fiction—and the real world was the Town of Vulcan, who were promoting the Star Trek-themed Vul-Con.

Their booth at the Calgary Expo was the second time promoting their event to Calgarians through the expo, said Chris Gauthier, Community Services Manager for the Town of Vulcan.

“The first year I wasn’t sure what to expect but the amount of contacts we made through other vendors that are here and then just having information about Vul-con and our weekend, it’s been great,” he said.

“A lot of people stopped by and it’s amazing how many people are Star Trek fans and are super excited to come to Vulcan check it out. They don’t know about how the whole town’s dedicated to Star Trek.”

He said that annually, the convention draws between 150 to 200 visitors, and that attending the Calgary Expo is a part of the strategy to draw more Star Trek fans

“The actors that we hire from Hollywood, they come down and the thing that’s different about this con versus anything else is they’re really personable. They’ll come hang out with you. We have a meet and greet on Friday night, and they actually just come and stand around and talk about whatever you kind of want to,” Gauthier said.

“They’re just really down-to-earth people and you can have that one-on-one interaction.”

Making the jump from fandom to creating fan favourite content

This year, Bow Valley College students and staff took Calgary Expo fans right into their favourite worlds—virtually.

Their booth was set up like a mini movie studio, which offered fans a glimpse of how movies and televisions are made through virtual environments with a green screen camera setup.

“We have multiple backgrounds on universe from the TV shows, series and movies. People just come inside and immerse with the idea of having an interactive experience,” said Bow Valley College visual effects student Niko Florez.

Among those media properties include Star Wars, the Last Airbender, Avatar, the Avengers—and fitting for the celebrity guests this year, Scream.

“This looks like a film set, just in a little scale and with the resources that we have. But I said if we can make that with these resources, can you imagine what we can make later on with the big blockbuster resources. It’s is going to be epic,” Florez said.

In addition to enticing fans to make the jump from being part of the fandom to being creators themselves, Florez said that the setup is also giving the current college students a real-world way to show off their skills.

“For me, it’s very important experience to actually test, try, fail and try it again until I make it. My idea is to be in blockbuster movies, and what I’m doing here is pretty much a test to be ready for later on,” Florez said.