Thousands attend Sci-Fi on the Rock in St. John's for its busiest convention yet
The annual convention was held at the Sheraton Hotel in St. John's over the weekend
Around 4000 people from all different fandoms – from sci-fi and fantasy to anime and horror — gathered in St. John's over the weekend for the 17th annual Sci-Fi on the Rock.
The convention took over the Sheraton Hotel, with a large vendor space, gaming rooms, meet and greets and panels. Many attendees wore costumes of their favourite characters, which they were able to show off at the event's costume contest.
"This is shaping up to be our busiest year," said Drew Saurus, the vice chair of the convention's committee. "We just put so much effort into it, just seeing it get bigger every year."
Costumes are a huge part of Sci-Fi on the Rock, with many attendees dressing up as their favourite characters from all corners of pop culture.
"We get comments every year that our population of costumed people compared to other [conventions] is just above and beyond anything they see percentage wise," said Saurus.
He believes that costumes are popular in this province due to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians' artistry, craftiness and willingness to help each other.
"Everyone's competing against each other in the costume contest, but wants to help everyone else look as good as they can," he said. "We're just such a super friendly population ... I love seeing our community come together."
Saurus said all the work put in to making the convention happen is worth it for the special moments, like seeing people from different walks of life come together and talk about the things they love.
"When I was 10 years old, we didn't have events like this in the city ... I played Dungeons and Dragons with my three friends, and that was it," he said. "I just love seeing the community coming together and just being a community."
Fire and Steel
Saurus was in charge of the convention's 76 vendors.
One vendor in particular, Fire and Steel, held a long line of excited shoppers since the convention opened. The Toronto-based retailer sells replica weaponry for both cosplay and real martial arts, with a special emphasis on making fictional swords a reality.
The company competed on CBC's Dragon's Den, where Fire and Steel's CEO, Laura Suen, struck a $1 million deal with the star of Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Simu Liu, and entrepreneur Michele Romanow.
Speaking on Saturday, Suen said it was treat to come to St. John's to sell their blades. She said it's great that people have the chance to buy their products in person, instead of online with expensive shipping fees.
"A lot of out-of-province companies find it to be very, very difficult to get here. So it's a really big deal that we're here for the first time," said Suen.
Suen said she was thrilled by the overwhelmingly positive response from Sci-Fi on the Rock attendees.
"I'm so happy to say that people have really showed up to support Canadian," said Suen. "I know that we're not local, but the fact that they're supporting a Canadian company, it's a really big deal to us."
Sci-Fi on the Rock runs until Sunday at 6 p.m.
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