Tristan the Teddy Bear arrives at the Lehigh Valley Fan Fest
Today Tristan and I went all the way to Allentown PA to show our wares at the Lehigh Valley Fan Fest (LVFF) at the Allentown Brewhouse, on paper this had the makings of a great show it was just let down by one small (but important) factor which I will get to at the end of my report here.
All setup and ready to go
How did it go?
The drive up was long, uneventful, pretty dull apart from the one incident when a Truck almost swiped us off the road. I’ve not driven around this part of Pennsylvania for a long time and it still looks like they are doing the same construction work I witnessed 15 years ago. It is true what they say PA roads are just one big pothole 
The Lehigh Valley Fan Fest was interesting, the location was unusually but a well-known building that was is the Brewhouse that had multiple floors. We were located on the third floor above the Cosplay/Gaming area with the only real access an elevator (bit of a problem that).
Foot traffic in the Artist/Guest/Vendor area was slow, intermittent and sometimes non-existent which surprised us all. The day instead kinda dragged for us all, these things happen at shows and its the nature of these things.
Random LVFF Gallery
Networking and Spooky Abigail
Because LVFF was slow I got to do something I normally don’t have a lot of time for, which is networking. Most shows I am attached to my table, this time around I got to walk around a bit. Met Lita (Amy Dumas) who is really tiny and bumped into Theodus Crane who really is quite a large chap.
Had a long talk with Keir Lyles (closet Brony), an artist friend of mine who is part of Apocrypha Comics Studio about being a possible relief artist to help Dan Nokes with art duties in the second upcoming Cuddly Defenders book. I like Keir’s style and I think he will be a great addition to the Teddy Bear Tales, but more of that as I gather details of this new project.
The Spooky Abigail Comic Book
I also had a long talk with Paul Micheal’s owner of PRM comics about Spooky Abigail, the direction of the book and some ideas on how to promote it. Plus I have received a couple of copies of the Spooky Abigail Limited Edition book to sell at my next event. So, if you want a copy of what is a very good little all-ages book drop me a line.
Tristan meets the LVFF Cosplayers
Signing Off
While this was not one of my more successful shows, I got a few important things done and had an enjoyable day, and Tristan, Jean and I finished it at White Castle… Had worse times…
Tristan Goes to White Castle
So What Happened with LVFF?
Going to keep this simple. LVFF was the first show and with many first show they always have teething trouble. While on paper the show has huge potential, a recognized venue, a good position in Central PA, Guests that can bring in the crowds, Vendors and Indie Creators within range to give the show good color.
What was lacking this first time out of the gate was local promotion and signage, with only a small poster on the door, no signs for the event around the area made it hard to locate if you didn’t know where the Brewhouse was. This is something the Promoters need to pick up on when they take another swing at the LVFF.