From humble beginnings in a legion hall to the first time as a two-day event, CK Expo has been providing a fun and entertaining pop culture experience for the last decade.
From humble beginnings in a legion hall to the first time as a two-day event, CK Expo has been providing a fun and entertaining pop culture experience for the last decade.
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Fans of cosplay and the hobbies and activities associated with it flocked to the John D. Bradley Convention Center Saturday and Sunday for the 10th anniversary CK Expo.
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“It’s pretty crazy,” said co-founder Chris Bullard of the milestone.
He recalled holding the Expo in the former Royal Canadian Legion Branch 28 hall in Chatham, drawing a few hundred people. “I said, ‘Let’s go for a bigger swing.’ ”
Despite an initial hesitancy by organizers, they did it, Bullard said. “Every year, it just gets bigger and bigger.”
This year, the organizing team had to convince him to go to two days, he said. “We kind of egg each other on.”
A big part of the event’s success is that it’s volunteer-driven. Bullard said. “Nobody’s getting paid for this. . . From top to bottom, everyone’s just donating their time, so there’s no rivalry.”
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One of the event’s biggest fans is Mayor Darrin Canniff, who sported a T-shirt bearing his image under the saying, “Celebrating 10 years of all things geek in Chatham-Kent.”
“I’ve been here virtually every year and it’s grown and grown,” drawing people from as far afield as Calgary and Toronto, he said. And he expects it to keep growing and drawing more people to the community.
Canniff also is impressed CK Expo is organized and run by volunteers “from Day 1,” with proceeds going to charity. The Boys and Girls Club of Chatham-Kent is the beneficiary.
London, England, resident Dareece Walker, visiting Canada for the first time, came to the Expo with his Chatham friends Jacob Brutus and Martin Kerr. They were dressed as “maids in training” just for fun.
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Walker, who attends cosplay events back home, said, “I thought I might as well see what it’s like in other places.”
“It’s a nice community, it’s pretty cool,” he added.
It was Brutus’s second year at the expo and he plans to return, noting having the event in Chatham is “much more convenient than having to go to London or Toronto.”
Kerr, a five-year CK Expo veteran, said, “I just love seeing other people dress up. I think it’s awesome.” He also likes the fact it has grown to a two-day event.
Markus Metcalfe, 16, of Chatham, upped his costume game for his second CK Expo by coming as Skull Kid from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
“I just love getting to meet all these other artists and creators who love similar things to me,” he said. “It’s a great bonding experience.”
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Al Ruddick, of Brantford, garbed as wrestlers Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan, has been a CK Expo vendor for three years.
“CK Expo is the greatest thing alive, yeah!” he said his best Macho Man voice.” It is almost the cream of the crop over top of the Macho Man Randy Savage.”
Switching to a Hulk Hogan voice, he added, “And let me tell you something brother, nobody does it better than CK Expo, man!”
Bullard said organizers work hard to provide something for everyone.
Some people come for the cosplay contest, some to play Magic: The Gathering card games and others just to see everything that is going on, he added.
“It’s really gratifying, you do all this hard work and you get to see this (great turnout),” Bullard said.
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