EATON — The Preble County District Library (PCDL) held its second annual Preble County Comic Con on Saturday, July 21. This year the event was held at the Gymnasium at Eagles Point, due to the large crowd last year.
People of all ages came out, in and out of costume alike, to enjoy the event. According to staff, at one point the event had a headcount of 500 attendees, nearly double what it was last year.
The event featured local artists, panel discussions, and a cosplay contest. Winners were chosen in four age groups: 0-3 years, 4-12 years, 13-18 years, and 19 years and older. Costumes from all genres were accepted, as were original characters. Only handmade or hand-assembled costumes were allowed.
There were vendors from area comic shops, authors, fan art from the community, and panel discussions that was streamed live on the library’s Facebook page (facebook.com/PrebleLibrary).
The first 100 in attendance received a limited edition Comic Con poster, designed by local artist Adam Fields.
“Our goal with this is, it’s a big party at the end of summer reading, since the kids did good with their reading all summer,” PCDL Youth Service Manager Sarah Tozier said. “We also hope to showcase the creativity of Preble County and local areas. We also hope to inspire creativity. Adults and kids alike will see all the cosplay and art. We hope that will inspire them to be creative and use our Maker Space at the library. It has a 3D Printer, sewing machine, and a computer will all kinds of software.”
Last year, the Comic Con had roughly 200 attendees. Only thirty minutes into this year’s event, they had a headcount of 215. The event took place both in the Gymnasium and Theater, where panel discussions were held. The discussions included one with local artists and a table top gaming discussion with Darkhold Games.
“This event showcases what we have here. We have Comic Cons going on in California and those places, and often times people can’t travel to those. This is showcasing what we have in our community already and inspiring people to make their own content,” Tozier said.
“Our library is all about fostering 21st century skills and a big one is creativity, which has decreased in the past years. We have our Maker Space. Our hope is to inspire people to make things and use the Maker Space to do so. A lot of the things here that people are fans of are books that have been made into movies, so it is all a big circle.”
