Pop Culture Canada and Great Canadian Wrestling (GCW) made a great first impression on those who flocked to their events at ODAS Park on Saturday afternoon and evening.
The comic con portion of the event brought 600 to 700 people to The Roller Skating Place during the day Saturday. David Wyldstar, the senior event coordinator for Pop Culture Canada and the president of GCW, says he’s happy with the turnout.
“As long as the venue will have us, we will make this an annual event,” he said.
Wyldstar says Orillians expressed to him their desire for an “alternative event” to some of the other similar events in the area.
“They’ve had events this way before, but they were looking for something different,” he said. “I think our event was different and affordable enough to make people come out in good numbers.”
While Wyldstar says the feedback from patrons was all positive, they also expressed to him that they would like to see more vendors and features the next time the event stops in Orillia.
“We had cosplayers here today, some Star Wars guys, Spider-Man, and a velociraptor that runs around,” he explained. “They want us to add more of that to future events.”
For the wrestling portion of the event, around 150 people attended the show on Saturday evening.
“That’s pretty good for a first-time show,” Wyldstar said. “I think it will only grow from here.”
The highlight of the day for many fans was meeting WWE Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze, who was on hand to pose for pictures and sign autographs.
“She was an awesome guest who had a lot of fun interacting with fans and signing some books and photos,” Wyldstar said. “She’s a wonderful human being and it was wonderful having her here with us today.”
Maybe the biggest draw of the day was the event's “unique” vendors, Wyldstar says.
“We had about 14 booths that were nothing but artists and artisans who make their own jewellery, their own prints, and stickers,” he explained. “I think for the fans who came out today, that was something they weren’t expecting.”
Wyldstar hopes locals enjoyed the wrestling event and will be excited for it to return to ODAS Park on Nov. 10.
Erin Abbott, the general manager of ODAS Park, says she was “very happy” with the success of Saturday’s event.
“I was actually surprised with how many people we had through the door,” she said. “We only advertised for this on Facebook.”
Abbott says both the vendors and event attendees seemed to enjoy the day.
“I heard one person say that this was the best comic con they had ever been to,” she said. “I was really happy to hear that.”
While Abbott isn’t sure of an exact date, she says the comic con will return to ODAS Park again next summer.
“Every event we have here is a fundraiser for us,” she said. “All the people here today may not have been local and this event gave us exposure for our future events and the opportunity of what we can do with the event.”
This summer, ODAS Park made the decision to halt roller skating for a few months. With the hot temperatures and other summer activities taking priority for families, putting roller skating on hold provides an opportunity for the venue to host other events at a time when roller skating isn’t drawing large crowds.
“We constantly get requests for events to happen in here,” Abbott said. “Closing the rink has been a really good option for us and today really proves that.”
Next on the calendar for ODAS Park is the Fall Fair, happening on Sept. 8 and 9. Tickets will soon be for sale online and at the gates during the event.
“We are happy to be back to a multi-day fair,” Abbott said. “We will have the tractor pulls back on the Friday night, which is a huge draw. We are excited about that.”
