Well it looks like I just couldn’t catch a break out there. Within the span of two months, I would attended a total of four different conventions, two of them only a week apart. You could say it was my busiest Spring in my history of attending events and I would whole-heartedly agree. Usually during this time of the year I would attend only two events, CPAC and CradleCon, only for the influence of DerpyCon 2024 to drive me to double the convention count. This decision heavily impacted most of the rest of the schedule, as it drove me to make the beginning of summer free from any conventions so I could have a chance to rest up and, more importantly, celebrate my birthday season without the need to prep for another event. But anyways, back to the topic on hand:
With Castle Point Anime Convention done, it was time once more for con prep season, and this time it would be for an event that felt like no other event I had attended up to that point: Garden State Anime Fest. Taking place at the Sussex Community Fairgrounds, Garden State Anime Fest was the first event I’ve attended since CPAC 2017 where the event was divided between multiple buildings instead of a single venue (sometimes with a secondary building to the side). The drive to the event itself took me through the New Jersey countryside in a trip unlike any other: , a route filled with farmland, a calm atmosphere, and farm animals chilling. Eventually, we would reach our destination, and at first it appeared as if there was nothing. But then, I saw a sign in the distance: “Garden State Anime Fest”. I drove down further, seeing a brick-red building and lots of parked cars. As I took a parking spot and started walking up to the small outdoors reception booth to register our tickets and claim our badges for the day, I was curious how things would turn out, given the relative lack of indoor space common to other anime, comic, and gaming events.
The main body of Garden State Anime Fest consisted of the following: Three buildings that contained vendors and artists, two roofed pavilions that served as the panel rooms of the event, a snack bar, and multiple food trucks. All of these were short outdoor walks between each other, with some benches scattered around to rest on. Unsurprisingly, I spent most of my time in two of the three buildings to converse with artists and commission some art, but I would gander at the larger of the two pavilions as shows were held throughout the day. It had a very eye-catching red rooftop and lots of space for seating, plus its open nature let you spectate from outside. From my perspective, these pavilions provided a very different feel from the panel rooms at other events, which are typically enclosed rooms with projectors. Here at Garden State Anime Fest, the panels were held pretty much out in the open and the host would have to carry the entire panel through just their performances and Q&A’s with the audience. I believe the smaller of the two pavilions did carry a screen based on the pictures I took of the event, though I cannot confirm nor deny it. The cosplay contest held in the main pavilion partway through the day was pretty meaty—about over a dozen entrants total, and with an event of this size it’s a very nice and respectable thing to see.
The three buildings where the vendors and artists were located will be labeled here for the sake of simplicity: Building A was the largest of the three buildings and had the bulk of the vendors and artists tabling. Building B featured some vendors but was mostly all artists, and Building C was the opposite, mostly vendors and some artists to round out the seller list of sellers. The bulk of my attention was very much focused on Buildings A and B, due to the greater number of artists residing in those buildings versus what was in Building C. And to my surprise, the event had a much greater density of artists than what I was assuming the event would have at first glance—about thirty to forty total artists if I had to make a guess. And without the over saturation of popular franchises like what you see at the bigger and longer-lasting anime events, the Artist Alley of Garden City Anime Festival felt very much like a blend of an anime artist alley and a comic artist alley. Some comic book artists in Building A were even selling their books of their original stores just like you would see at a comic event. It was a blend of event styles that you don’t see often, and the last time I saw an event do this was Brooklyn Comic Con, where they pulled off the same “Anime event with comic stuff” but in reverse.
Building C felt very much like the overflow part of the event: it had a few of the vendors and artists that couldn’t fit into either Buildings A or B, and what parts weren’t taken by vendors were reserved for tabletop gaming and a small number of video games in the back of the building. There were no fighting game tournaments or Japanese arcade gaming like at Castle Point or last year’s AnimeNJ++, just a few lone PS5’s to pull up to and play whatever. In hindsight, I do wish I did spend a bit more time in Building C, but it was a bit longer of a trip across the venue compared to Buildings A and B, which by comparison sat right next to each other. At this point, all that’s really left to talk about at this event were the food trucks and the voice actor guests: A total of three voice actors sat at booths in the back of Building B, and during my trots through the event I made a few stops to meet and greet them during my waiting for convention commissions. They were all very pleasant to chat to and hearing that they would be open for partaking in voice work for a project of mine (should one ever get off the ground) was very heartwarming. The rates for selfies were a bit high, but well these hard-working people needed some way to get paid in times like this and I don’t engage with voice actors, let alone special guests at cons unless they’re out in the open (which they usually are not). As for the food, several food trucks were parked outside in the main body of the event, right outside the main pavilion used for panels as well as Building C. I ended up gunning for a burger with potato chips on the side from a truck that served homemade burgers. It was a really refreshing meal, given that I usually am forced to settle on hot dogs with their poor aftertaste when I’m at a con for the entirety of the day outside of only a few events with burgers available (DerpyCon and AnimeNJ++). Later in the day, right before the event wrapped up for Saturday, I snagged an ice cream cone from another truck parked outside. There was also a snack and drink bar in the back of the main pavilion, directly across from Building A, but I pretty much didn’t bother with it for the sake of my own health.
As the day went on, the weather would gradually improve from cloudy to light overcast, settling on a nice, peaceful sunset as 6pm drew closer and closer. The cosplays on offer at this event were strong enough that I began to take cosplay shots not long after stepping into the venue. Given the attendance size of this event, I didn’t leave with as many as I do on bigger events, but I still thought that the number of total shots were significant enough to warrant posting them anyways. The commission haul for this event ended up being on par with other events I usually attend, which is well-appreciated given I wasn’t expecting to leave Garden State Anime Fest with that many. Once 6pm hit, the entire event closed down for the day, with no evening activities open for those looking to spend a bit more time. It’s an understandable decision, given the outdoor nature of the event and the lack of much of anything left to do at dusk. All of the vendors and artists got up and left, the food trucks drove off, and soon the event grounds would be left a ghost town for the day. I took a few last-minute pics of the venue as I walked back to my car, went around to explore and take in the surrounding countryside view, then drove back home. Overall, the event was a great time and I got a lot out of it, but I’m uncertain if I want to return next year given that this was my third of four events in the spring and convention fatigue is very much a real thing. That, and there’s one more event I want to cover for today:
Cradle Con was back in season for another weekend, and very little of the event has changed since last year. selling new and Driving out to the Cradle of Aviation was a lot more streamlined than the New Jersey events I’ve attended this year so far, and it was nice to finally attend another event in my home turf that didn’t take me over an hour’ to get to. The parking lot was a bit packed on arrival, but once I did find parking, everything was smooth-sailing from there. Admission had gone up in price a bit since last month, but it’s still a steal for the amount of convention you’re getting. If the venue sounds familiar, it’s the same one that hosts the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo every August, although I’d say Cradle Con isn’t struggling as much in terms of space. The first floor is the vendor’s hall, stretching across the main lobby of the building as well as the cafeteria in the back. Notably, the hangar area was not used as an extended vendor’s hall this time—instead it was reserved for an experience known as “The Cereal Club”. Pay for a ticket and you get to go in and watch old cartoons while eating cereal. It was a fine idea idea in hindsight, but in my own personal thoughts in the middle of the gay at the event, it felt like too much of a money sink compared to all the merchandise being sold at the vendors and artists booths.
Speaking of artists, the Artist’s Alley that lined all of the second floor at this event was quite booming with artists that all catered to different genres and art styles. It was a huge grab bag of all you could ask for at an event like this: Comics, cartoons, anime, realism… I may have my preferences but this was a very welcome selection of artists. It even had one unexpected but very eye-catching sight in the form of a tattoo artist that set up an entire studio at the event and did live tattoos in the Artist’s Alley! They flew in all the way from Europe and if you signed up to receive a tattoo love at Cradle Con, you would get a hefty discount (at the cost of being at the table for most of the day). I unfortunately did not catch who was the tattoo artist, but should I ever see them at another event in the future, I’ll be sure to give them the showcase and recognition they deserve here on this blog. Artists also pooled into parts of the lower floor, whom were all professional or long-time comic artists that sat alongside a plethora of special guests. It was also, if you can believe it, my first time touching a VHS tape in many, many years as one particular guest had a VHS of MTV Celebrity Deathmatch in a good but well-used condition. I don’t remember if it could be purchased, but considering I don’t have a VHS set up nor enough of an interest in 90’s celebrities, it would have been far out of my interests to bring back home with me regardless.
Panels were available on both days and mainly focused on various long-lasting American comic and media franchises. Star Wars even got its own themed section of the event with live performances from cosplayers and LARPers in appropriately-themed costumes based on the legendary sci-fi franchise. As you all can likely assume by this point, most of these didn’t appeal to me as I was already laser-focused on the Artist’s Alley and the artists and comic authors tabling there. It felt like just the right size for the event and was filled with many pleasant people to chat with and support through purchasing their goods. I even got to sit with one of the artists the artist’s alley and develop a character concept based on a few references I assembled earlier that week in the time between Garden State Anime Fest and this event. And of course, as with most medium-to-large events that I attend based around anime or comics, there were commissions to purchase from the artists inside the Artist’s Alley. For this year, Cradle Con was a very profitable adventure in terms of commission count, totaling nine different commissions across the day.
Anyways, time to wrap this all up. Much like Garden State Anime Festival, the event would end quite early compared to most bigger events. Doors closed at 5PM with no gaming, panels, or miscellaneous activities continuing on for hours afterwards. Sunday also ended at the same time to allow the organizers and vendors/artists time to ensure the place was cleaned up so standard operations of the Cradle could resume the following day. I departed pretty much right as the hour hit, with the intention of grabbing a cup of flavored ice from one of the trucks outside before departing. Alas, the truck had vanished to restock for the following day, and unfortunately they would not return for Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. But going back on topic, Cradle Con was a good event. Probably on par with last year’s event since I got to see many artists I was familiar with from the local convention scene attend and table. The panels and amenities didn’t appeal to me for understandable reasons, given that at comic events I prefer to support smaller creators over the multi-billion dollar franchises these comic and pop culture events endorse. Returning next year is pretty much a given, due to how easy it is to fit Cradle Con into my schedule.
So what’s next? Well, this summer ended up going a bit differently than I had planned due to having to shaft one of the events I had planned to attend thanks to schedule conflicts, so for next time we will be looking back on Eternal Con and Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. And given that the former finally returned from hiatus and the latter has always received glowing praise from myself, it's going to be an interesting batch of events to talk about.
