NOLA TIME FEST 2013 - Fun Filled Fan experience, or Evil Plot?
6/29/2013 - Jefferson Orleans North, Metarie, LA, USA, Earth, Sagittarius Spiral Arm, Milky Way Galaxy...
Coordinates in Spacetime that our favorite time lord would do well to avoid?
The rumors had been circulating among the members of Krewe du Who for months... that the inaugural Time Fest was in fact a plot by the Supervillian Musical Group, the Consortium Of Genius, to lay a trap for the Doctor and seize the Tardis. For one Dr. Milo Pinkerton to usurp the Time Lord's place in history, and twist the time stream to his own evil design.
What I don't believe the C.O.G. planned for was the attendance of over 500 of the Doctor's biggest fans, all ready to enjoy the day socializing with one another about how Doctor Who has touched them. In the planning stages, the event organizers had conservatively thought that perhaps 100 people or so would attend. By the time the event was ready to open its doors at 2pm, the line was already at least a hundred people long. The folks at the registration desk were to be commended, though... the line moved briskly and efficiently all day, until the Krewe was forced to limit access due to concerns about reaching the venues occupancy cap. The U.N.I.T. Volunteer force did an excellent job monitoring the situation, and no Whovian was turned away.
Inside, vendors such as More Fun Comics, +1 Gaming, and White Lightning Productions had many wonderful WHO- related toys, games and T-shirts for sale. As a parent of a young Whovian, I was made well aware of this fact. ("BUT DAD! THEY HAVE CYBERMATS!!!!") Fortunately, the event organizers had the foresight to locate the kids crafts table nearby, and it was crowded with many children and young at heart adults making Doctor Who crafts, and doing Doctor Who themed face painting throughout the day.
Two Local conventions and friends to Krewe du Who CONtraflow and CoastCon were in attendance, with more freebees for the kids, and information about their coming events. Also in attendance was David Ducorbier from WGSO's "The Week in Geek", Doing interviews for next week's show.
On the other side of the hall, The "Shoot the Daleks Extermination Booth" set up by KdW member Carleigh Bedell was a very popular stop for all Whovians in attendance, and raised over 400 dollars to benefit Camp Challenge. All of the young KdW members that volunteered for Dalek duty had a great time taunting the crowd, and yelling "EXTERMINATE" as loud as they could. Beside it, "Prom Pictures from Skaro" were taken against a green screen, much to the delight of many of the cosplayers at the event.
In the center of the room, KdW members held panels on costuming techniques, Collectables, memories of and the future of Doctor Who. A Doctor Who Pinball Tournament was held, with many eager participants, but it was Sid Kuhn who proved himself to be the pinball wizard of the day.
The biggest event of the day was of course, the "Robes of Rassilon" costume contest. There were many wonderful costumes showcasing the creativity and dedication of fans of all ages, but the adult winner was Valerie Whittom's (aka Barroness) incredible Novice Hame costume. In 2nd Place, Molly, Paul, and baby Magnus looked great as a family of Weeping Angels. In 3rd place was Karri White's dead-on accurate Romana II.
In the Kids category, 1st Place went to Sonja Hardder as the T.A.R.D.I.S.. 2nd Place went to a Group of femme Doctors (and the T.A.R.D.I.S.) with Alexis Rountree, Taylor Palumbo, and Caeleighn Melissa Wake Bernard and 3rd Place went to Jacob Kapalow as The Doctor.
Finally to cap off an incredible event, those malfactors of music, the Consortium Of Genius, broke out the time door and took the stage with their usual mix of comedy, beats and rock enegry to ensure that a good time (vortex) was had by all.
Overall, the first NOLA Time Fest was a resounding success, fun for Whovians both young and old, and I sincerely hope that this will be only the first of many to come!
Rob Cerio