It looks like Cherry City Comic Con is still on. Ownership of the con has transferred to B.A.M. Solutions Inc, so that once mysterious, unnamed marketing company now has a name and some credentials and based on this post on Cherry City Comic Con's Facebook page they are now in control and ownership of Cherry City Comic Con.
So now the big question a lot of people have... How is B.A.M. going to fix refund situation for vendors at the Cherry City Holiday Craft Fair and Cherry City Comic Con? After several requests for details, B.A.M. finally sent a letter out to most of the affected vendors. I say most because there were a few vendors that claimed they did not get letters when this announcement came out.
I do not know the content of the letter as I did not get one. Oh, and just to be clear, I didn't expect a letter since I wasn't a vendor at either of the events in question, but based on this comment:
It looks like B.A.M. made an offer to vendors, possibly from both events, that they could still have a table at Cherry City Comic Con, or wait until after the Con to get a refund. There hasn't been many comments publicly made available about the offer letter received, aside from the one I posted and a few "Look forward to show." type of comments, so it is hard to gauge the response from the vendor community as a whole, but one comment in general I felt was very important to share.
See, Savannah was the second news article covered by Koin News on the whole vendor refund debacle. She went to the news after Mark declared Cherry City was dead. And while, base on Savannah's comment, she isn't ready to contact the news immediately to say that things are resolved, she is willing to contact Koin "If all goes smoothly."
One other aspect of the Con that still shadows it is the Cosplay incident from last year. This was a sore point for many Cosplayers. Although I personally never heard any reports of or witnessed any harassment myself at the event, it appears that this is still a concern for the community.
The Cosplay community can rejoice and embrace in the fact that "Cosplay doesn't equal consent" will be embraced at this year's Cherry City Comic Con.
So now comes the big questions for me.
What does all this mean?
Are vendors, new and previous, still attending Cherry City Comic Con?
I ask this because without vendors any Con loses much of its attraction. I for one go to cons to get comics cheap and talk to artists. If there aren't many, or even at least as many comic vendors as last year, then the con would be a bust for me.
Are vendors from the failed Craft Fair getting tables at Cherry City Comic Con as compensation? If so, as a follow up question, is this year's Cherry City Comic Con going to be the "Cherry City Comic Con and Craft Show"?
I know, I know... this question sounds snarky. But the reality is this is a fair question and the snarkiness of it is not intended. I ask this question because I go to a Comic Con for comics and comic related things. I when I go to a craft fair, which is rarely I might add, I go for handmade items that are quirky, unique and generally not comic related. So if a large portion of this year's Cherry City Comic Con is craft fair related then the con has lost a large amount of value for me.
Will attendees still be going to Cherry City Comic Con?
A Con, any con really, has no value to vendors without attendees that are willing to spend some money.
The answer to all of these questions is; I don't know. At this time B.A.M. has not made any official announcements other than what I have shared. But the Cherry City Comic Con website is now back online and lists the following guest artists: Nichole Brune, Nathan Quarry, Keith Tucker, Randy Emberlin, Gary Martin, Joshua St. James, Alam M. Clark, Edward Morris, David Barker, Nick Gucker and Randy Kintz.
It also lists the following "other" guests and vendors: Portland Superhero Coalition, Star Wars Oregon, Nialls Zombie Control Service, PsychoNot Art, The Dusty Phoenix, Cult Classic Posters, Octo-Kitty Creations/Kristel's Kreations, Sam's Crochet, b33nine, Foreest Imel, Mythos Unlimited, Arenheim, Kilted Comics, Secret Dragon Collectibles, Adam Cook, Christa D Art, Jessie Garcia, Occams Edge, Brett Weldele, ID Studios/Illustration by Cole Munro-Chitty, The Gorgonist, JEMS, Panty-Millionair, Meg Kirkpatrick, outnerdme, Kevin McKoy, Holly Benton Art, Ms. Morri Illustrations & Comics, Mystic Moon Jewelry, Dylan Canfield, MariBits Arts and Crafts, Bunny Maelstrom, Living Colored Duct Tape / Pretty Little Tragic, Belfry Studios, Nomables, Wade Busby, Battle. Ready. Artists., Fablefire, Creepy Cute Bootique, West Coast Haunters Convention, Barry Deutsch, Allan M Clark / David Barker, Edward Morris / Ann Koi and Hot Rod Betties.
I do not know how up to date the site is at this moment so I don't know how up-to-date this list of vendors and guest artists is. The reason I don't know how up to date the site is at this time is because the site still says that Cherry City Comic Con is Salem's first and only comic con. While it is the first, it is no longer the only comic con in Salem. It hasn't been Salem's only Comic Con since September when another con was formally announced.
But what I do know is this; Cherry City Comic Con and B.A.M. Solutions has a big hole to dig out of right now. I am wishing them the best of luck, because if they can get out of the hole they are in the community will be better for it.
Whether I am going or not is still my personal choice, just as it is yours. But as I said in last week's post, if we want events like Cons and festivals in our community, we have to be willing to support these events. And this week I would like to add, we need to put the past to bed. There's a new boss in charge of the con. Will this be a "new boss is same as the old boss" type of situation. From the initial look of things, I don't think so, but only time will tell. On the surface, they [B.A.M.] are making a effort to resolve the issues, so we will have to see.
Until next time... Just remember that to enjoy the future, you must let go of the past.
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