By: Patrick Millar
From comic books to Catan, the Ottawa Geek Market is set to have all your geek needs covered when it takes place Oct. 14 at the Nepean Sportsplex.
The market is an event set up by Stacey Young and Karen Fraser to be the ultimate sci-fi, fantasy, horror, anime, steampunk and gaming shopping experience, with a number of vendors and sponsors specifically from the Ottawa area.
“Though the expectations were small to begin with, word of mouth and social media has helped the event to gain traction among the Ottawa geek community,” said Young, a co-organizer of the event and the owner of Geek Etc.
Young says that since this is the inaugural event, they have no set goals in mind for attendance, but the
expectations have grown large in recent weeks.
She says based on what they are hearing, somewhere between 1,000 – 2,000 people are set to attend, even some people from Toronto and Montreal.
The event is set to not only be a shopping but an entertainment event as well.
There will be activities at the event ranging from cosplay to a blaster range to shoot stormtroopers for a small fee and many other activities, including a raffle for products donated by some of the vendors.
The proceeds from the blaster range and raffle at the event are going to Make-a-Wish foundation.
“I was at the doctor’s office, and I saw a little kid look at his mom and ask when he got to be normal for a day like the other kids,” said Young. “It really pulled at my heartstrings. As a community and to support these kids who don’t get to have a normal childhood, I thought why not give kids a chance to flourish and have some fun for a day?”
Algonquin is going to be well represented at this event, with CKDJ being a sponsor and pre-animation professor Rich Lauzon selling some pieces of art he created.
“I don’t know how well the other pieces are going to sell, but the fan art is where it’s at right now,” said Lauzon while displaying some of his offerings for the Geek Market, from a Starship Troopers lookalike poster with stormtroopers to his Han Solo as The Fugitive poster.
Radio broadcasting student Chance Peterson, who will be representing CKDJ and tweeting out what’s happening, thinks the event will do well.
“I was at the Ottawa comic-con, and that was obviously a huge success,” said Peterson. “This is in the same vein with a smaller scale, so it should be very successful.”
An event this large takes a lot to get together, as Young can attest to.
“It’s a lot more work than you expect going into it,” said Young. “If you asked me and Karen four months ago if we knew scope of what we were getting ourselves into, no would be the answer. It’s been such a blast though that I have no regrets, and I haven’t minded working seven days a week on it. It’s been a lot of fun.”
As for the attraction Young is most looking forward to?
“Personally, the giant Lego display; I am a huge Lego enthusiast, I find it to be so unique and so creative,” said Young.
“As an organizer, supporting my store owner friends and the local community. The local community is really what I am trying to push here.”
A note if you are planning on attending the event: by request of the event staff, the Geek Market will be fragrance-free.
If you have any questions or concerns about the Geek Market, you can contact Stacey Young at OttawaGeekMarket@gmail.com.