What do the Evergreen Community Orchestra and Oculus Rift have in common?
They’ll both be part of Sno-Isle Libraries ComicCon from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 13 at the Snohomish Library.
“This comic-con is aimed at teens, but everyone is welcome,” said Grant Perrigo, Teen Librarian at the Snohomish Library. “We’re really excited to be able to stage this event using the main library and the community room before we open for normal business hours.”
For the initiated, ComicCon stands for comic book conference, but the events have become so much more. Perhaps the largest - and original - is in San Diego, but Seattle’s Emerald City Comicon draws tens of thousands over four days.
“We thought the Seattle and Bellingham comic-cons are great, but that there is room for a free event, closer to home and welcoming to teens,” Perrigo said. Sunday’s event in Snohomish is co-sponsored by the Monroe and Lake Stevens libraries, he said.
A unique feature of the Snohomish event will be live music provided by the Evergreen Community Orchestra, a volunteer community group with support from the Snohomish County Music Project.
“They will be playing music by John Williams from ‘Star Wars, ‘Star Trek’ and other sci-fi and fantasy-theme music,” Perrigo said. “The orchestra will be providing the musical score for our event.”
There will also be an opportunity to experience virtual reality games with the use of two Oculus Rift equipment stations. “We’ve got three games loaded that will be great for all attendees,” Perrigo said. Other video games will be available and a board-game area will be set up for attendees to play.
A big part of comic-cons is dressing the part of a favorite character.
“It’s certainly not required, but we are encouraging people to come in costume,” Perrigo said, adding that there will be a costume contest, with a twist.
“Everyone will get a ticket which they can then give to the person wearing the costume they like best,” Perrigo said. “Of course, that person can keep them or use those tickets to vote for their favorite costume. We’ll have prizes for the winners.”
There will be a photo booth as well as booths exhibiting a variety of materials, much of it from the Sno-Isle Libraries collection. “We want people to know that we have a lot of the things that they like,” he said. “And, they can check it out for no charge.”
Attendees will get a Sno-Isle ComicCon badge and a map of the booths. Those who get stamps from the booths can then enter raffles during the event for prizes.
In the community room, T. Andrew Wahl, a comic book historian and instructor at Everett Community College, will give a presentation. There will also be a panel discussion on cosplay in the community room.
This event is co-sponsored by the Lake Stevens and Monroe Library with support from the Sno-Isle Libraries Foundation, and the Snohomish Friends of the Library.