Southern Geek Fest!!!

Hattiesburg, MS

Over the weekend I took a road trip to Hattiesburg, MS for the first ever Southern Geek Fest.  It was an excellent event put on by Rafe White, Tim Nicholas, and a wonderful group of local and not-so local volunteers.  There was an excellent mix of vendors, authors, comic artists, celebrities, and cosplayers.

The convention was very laid back.  Since many of the attendees were part of Southern Geek’s Facebook group, the convention felt more like a family reunion or a get-together of good friends (many of which were meeting for the first time) than an actual convention.  That, in my opinion, is a good thing.  The Forrest County Multipurpose Center served as an adequate venue to hold the convention at, allowing for plenty of floor space and two nice panel rooms that were actually in a building adjacent to the main facility.

Fan groups from Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, and other fandoms were on site, as well as a few local groups as well.  Many of them were having raffles or special events (like shooting a Dalek) to raise money for various charities.  Miss Southern Magnolia, Alexis Carter, was also present, raising money for the Children’s Miracle Network.  She was posing for photos, signing autographs, and seemed to be a genuinely sweet young lady.  Myself and a friend talked with her briefly and she was kind enough to pose for photos with us.

Alexis Carter autograph.

Captain ‘Murica, Alexis, and DDK.

There were many excellent celebrities on hand as well, including Tim Russ of Star Trek:  Voyager, Anne Mahoney of The Walking Dead, Jeremy London of Mallrats, and John Mangus of Jurassic World and many other films.  I visited with Mr. Russ and picked up an autograph from him.  I also sat in on his panel.  I’ve known John Mangus for a few years now, and he’s always a treat to visit with whenever we see each other at conventions.

I also got to meet Scotty Whitehurst, a member of the cast and crew of Star Trek Continues.  I can honestly say that this is one of the best shows around and every single member of the cast and crew that I’ve met or interacted with online has been cordial.

SGF featured a number of excellent cosplayers including Alice Infinity, Kimberly Battista, Angie Starr, and Shane Dison.  I’ve known Shane for awhile now and he’s one of the coolest people that you could ever meet.  He gets what I’m doing with DDK and demanded that I keep my left ear cocked like I did with my previous costume.  I also visited with Angie Starr.  She also gets the whole DDK thing and thought that it was very cool.  All of the cosplayers were very nice, and I hope that SGF brings some of them back next year.

I also got to meet a few new people and catch up with old friends.  Many of my friends and myself were either volunteering or involved with groups at the convention.  Will still managed to get a reasonable amount of time to hang out with each other.  I also got to eat that evening with a few friends.

My favorite costume at the convention.

Don’t blink? Why not?

Doom Metal CDs from Cave Moran!

As the convention started to wind down a bit, I snagged a few Doom Metal CDs from Cave Moran, who’s also an artist (just check out his work on the album covers).  I managed to listen to all of them on my long ride back home.  Driving to and from the convention was crazy.  I had to deal with bad rain throughout most of Louisiana and typical terrible Baton Rouge traffic on my drive to Hattiesburg and beautiful skies and a road raging lunatic on my way home.  With that said, though, I’d do it all over again to go back to Southern Geek Fest.

This was a very fun event, and I hope that it was a success as well.  Attendance appeared to be steady and strong, and I heard of very few complaints.  Hopefully Rafe, Tim, and the core staff of this event will keep what worked and change whatever they feel needs to be changed.

As I stated in a previous post, this event looked to be an excellent first timer.  It definitely was.  If SGF returns next year, I hope to see YOU there!

Heck, even DDK was sad to see the event end!

As always, thanks for reading.  If you attended this event, let me know what you thought about it and if you plan on returning next year!!!!