Hudson Valley Comic Con

May 9th & 10th 2019
Golds Gym & Exhibition Center
Poughkeepsie, NY

 

Overview:

When deciding on what shows to do, I look at a few different factors. The ideal trifecta of conditions would be cons that have low table fees, are easily accessible via public transit, and hosted in a city where I know someone that I can stay with. Hudson Valley Comic Con checked all three boxes for me. That meant it was an excellent excuse to visit Naomi, one of my closest friends, for a nice long weekend upstate. We also used our time together as an opportunity to stage some photo shoots for my Ermahgerd Goosebumps side project. Dressing up in a ridiculous Halloween costume and wandering around an old graveyard in late May was definitely an experience. I split my table with Naomi’s husband, Kevin, who has been wanting to try out a convention with some of his beautiful woodcutting artwork and transistor vacuum tube spiders. All in all, it was a successful weekend and I turned a small profit. I think the Con suffered from a disproportionate vendor to audience ratio, with too many vendors for too few patrons. This was either because of or exacerbated by the show overlapping with Mother’s Day on Day 2. The trek to and from Poughkeepsie was a hassle, but there were not 

 

 

Highlights:

•  The photo shoots with Naomi were a lot of fun. She found an old an old graveyard in Beacon that ended up being perfect for Welcome to Dead House. I looked up ethical ways to do a photo shoot in a cemetery, which was super helpful. Only one passerby stopped to watch us for an extended period before driving off.

•  We also set up a tent and took several photos for Welcome to Camp Nightmare, which posted a few weeks back. Our third collaboration, The Ghost Next Door, will make it’s Internet debut at the end of August.

•  This was the first show I’ve ever done where the entire convention hall was on AstroTurf.

•  I met up with Ramon Gil, who recently edited the Create Destroy Repeat Anthology that I was a part of. He had traveled up from NYC as well.

•  I also ran into E. Hanby and Daniel Rowley, the creative team behind the comic Whitewater, who I had first met at Albany Comic Con back in 2017.

•  Kevin’s stuff was a real standout at the show. I think if the vendor/audience ratio were different, he’d have done even better.

•  Something to pay attention to going forward: Mother’s Day weekend probably isn’t the greatest time to have a 2-day show.

•  The cupcake ladies I tabled next to at Saratoga Comic Con last year seemed to be doing great. I made a point of having a few cupcakes; it beat the other available food options.

 

 

Would I go back?

I did well enough that I didn’t lose any money, but that’s only if I don’t count paying myself for the two full days of working the con. I didn’t turn much of a profit. That being said, it is a low table cost and a good excuse to spend some time with friends that I don’t get to see as often as I’d like.

And finally…

The Obligatory Convention Selfie