Calling all geeks: Nickel City Con is back.
The pop culture celebration will be held June 30-July 2 at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center with performances by some of the biggest names in film, television and wrestling. More than 250 vendors, artists and celebrities will fill the 70,000-square-foot space on the second floor of the convention center; Panel discussions take place in street-level rooms.
Meet actors from Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Power Rangers, as well as George Wendt (Cheers), Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk) and Larry Thomas ( the soup Nazi from “Seinfeld”) and Jim Starlin, whose creation of the ultimate supervillain Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet is part of his work for Marvel.
Meet Norm from “Cheers” when actor George Wendt performs at Nickel City Con in Buffalo June 30-July 2.
Performance
Cosplay is promoted with a contest with over $1,000 in prizes.
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Also keep an eye out for Buffalo’s Best Batman, Buffalo’s Best Turtles and the Buffalo Ghostbusters.
“Our focus is on cons, cosplay, comics and pop culture celebrities. There’s a geek in all of us… and we take care of it,” said self-proclaimed geek Chris Dabrowski, who now runs Nickel City Con with partner James Ponce.
While you may not know their names, if you attend conventions, you most likely know their work. Dabrowski and Ponce have been hosting the large and popular Niagara Falls Comic Con in Niagara Falls, Ontario for 20 years. Dave & Adam’s Card World continues as title sponsor of Nickel City Con.
Dabrowski said Buffalo’s Nickel City Con was “a natural fit” and a “great market to develop.”
“Even though we’re only 45 minutes away, we’re able to bring a lot of celebrities that we can’t bring to Canada to the United States for a variety of reasons,” he said, including puppeteer Bill Diamond with his used screen and replica props, including puppets from “The Dark Crystal” and “Fraggle Rock” and Audrey II from the Broadway musical “Little Shop of Horrors”.
Many celebrities will be seated at their tables throughout the duration of the convention and will also take part in question-and-answer and panel discussions. This schedule is available online with a downloadable program.
Documentary filmmaker John Campopiano brings two on-screen Pennywise outfits from the movie “IT” to Nickel City Con.
By TNS/Brooke Palmer, Warner Bros.
You can find more highlights here.
- The largest Sons of Anarchy cast meet-up within 500 miles of Buffalo includes Kim Coates, Theo Rossi, Ryan Hurst, Mark Boone Jr., David LaBrava and Kenny Johnson (“SWAT”). The actors will conduct a question and answer session on July 2 at 1:30 p.m. This is a return to Buffalo for Coates, who starred in and produced Cold Brook, a locally made feature film by his friend and Cheektowaga native William Fichtner, who co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in the film.
- There are also several cast members from such powerful series and films as Guardians of the Galaxy (Michael Rooker and Sean Gunn), The Walking Dead (Ross Marquand and Dan Fogler) and the Friday the 13th series (CJ Graham ). , Thom Matthews and Lauren-Marie Taylor). All will also participate in questions and answers.
- ‘Pet Sematary’ and ‘Kindergarten Cop’ child star Miko Hughes makes a rare convention appearance conducting a ‘Pet Sematary’ Q&A with documentary filmmaker John Campopiano (‘Pennywise: the Story of IT’) , who brings two on-screen Pennywise costumes worn by Tim Curry to the con.
- Horror fans can pose with three actors in the costumes of their characters: CJ Graham (Jason Vorhees), Brett Wagner (Leatherface) and Thom Matthews (Tommy Jarvis).
- In addition to Jim Starlin, Artist Alley features eight other artists, including Bob Camp (Ren & Stimpy co-creator), Dan Parent (Archie) and Dave Nestler (Disney, Lucasfilm).
- Wrestling fans can meet Sgt. Slaughter, Sting, Greg “the Hammer” Valentine and Brutus Beefcake. “We hire professional wrestlers because Buffalo is a stronghold of WWE and has roots for wrestlers like Ric Flair,” Dabrowski said.
- NCC marks Pat Mastroianni and Stacie Mistysyn’s first Buffalo Convention appearance on the hit Canadian series DeGrassi High.
- Also look out for the first appearance in upstate of the restored original Green Goblin head from Maximum Overdrive.
Hours: Nickel City Con will be open June 30 from 3pm to 8pm, July 1 from 10am to 6pm and July 2 from 10am to 4pm at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center (153 Franklin St.).
Tickets: $25 on June 30th, $40 on July 1st and $30 on July 2nd. Tickets for ages 7-12 are $10 per day; Children up to 6 years have free entry. There are separate costs for autographs and photos.
Autographs and photos: Each guest determines the conditions and costs for their autographs and photos, which are additional to the entrance fee. Information can be found on each celebrity page at nickelcitycon.com.
Bring some cash: Cash payment is required for some autographs and photos at the table.
Read the schedule: While most celebrities are in attendance for all three days, not all are. So check the online schedule before you set off. For example, wrestler Sting won’t be there until July 1st.
Rules: The rules are simple: what’s not allowed outside of the convention isn’t allowed at the convention either. And that goes for cosplay too, where guns aren’t allowed. Visit the scammer’s FAQ page for more information.
Accessibility: There are accessible washrooms on the ground floor and accessible parking spaces are available.
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