Sarah Casagrande, Campus Carrier Entertainment Editor
Junior Michael Dunn was so excited for BerryCon in 2015 that he showed up right after running a half marathon.
“I’m excited about this year because I think they’re going to do something new and exciting,” Dunn said. “I’m excited to see what I haven’t seen before.”
BerryCon is an annual pop culture convention held by the Berry College Alternate Realities (BCAR) club. The event takes up almost all of Krannert and includes events such as video game competitions, a maid café, cosplay contests and art vendors.
“I’m excited to see how many people show up,” senior Tayla Lammers, president of BCAR, said. “We had about 200 people last year, but we did a lot more advertising this year and we added guests this year that we were not able to previously.”
One of the new guests is actress Jennifer Cihi, who does the singing voice for Sailor Moon in the English dub. Lammers said that a stage and sound equipment will be set up for Cihi to perform.
James Clarke, who graduated from Berry in 2011, is returning to present on how to make props. Clarke is heavily involved in cosplay and even visits kids in Atlanta hospitals in costume.
“I usually bring in as many of my props and costumes as I can fit in my car and have a basic hands-on demo,” Clarke said. “It has always been a lot of fun.”
Many of the hundreds of BerryCon visitors show up in full cosplay, and some spend large amounts of time and money perfecting their costumes.
“There was one dude that showed up in a ‘Halo’ outfit,” Dunn said. “That was the first time I ever saw a real cosplay.”
Junior Rebecca Drew has attended BerryCon every year since she was a freshman, and is a member of the Mandalorian Mercs, a nonprofit Star Wars cosplay group. She has spent over a year building a Mandalorian cosplay from PVC plastic and plans on wearing it to BerryCon.
“It’s so much fun because everybody wants to take a photo with you,” Drew said. “Kids really like [the cosplay] even if they don’t know what it is.”
Another major part of BerryCon is the video game tournaments. Five different games will be played based on the results of a school survey. The prizes are gift cards, with the exception of the “League of Legends” tournament, which has an entry fee and a cash prize pool.
If visitors get hungry, they can visit the Maid Café for sweets served by waitresses in French maid costumes. The café is inspired by real ones found in Japan. There are also about 25 vendors set up to sell art and other items.
Clarke said that he was impressed by how much BerryCon has grown. He attended his first one when he was a student in 2010.
“Back then it wasn’t even called BerryCon,” Clarke said. “The quality of costumes has definitely improved every year since I graduated, and I love seeing all the students’ creativity and skill in what they come up with every year.”
BerryCon will be held on April 1 from 8-11 p.m. and April 2 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. It is free for Berry students and children under 12, but is it $15 for a two day pass for community members and $10 for Berry alumni.