Denver Pop Culture Con Day 1 Recap

Written by: Dr. Sarah Hanisko

It’s never easy to wake up at 3am to travel, but for this particular event it was a little easier.  I loved being a regular attendee last year, but this year I am attending as media and it’s been a great experience to talk to many of the artists and authors who are here promoting their work. But to be honest, my favorite part of any con is people watching and sharing a community of fandom that is as good as family.

I arrived early and had a great Lyft with Logan from Colorado. He dropped me at the Denver Hyatt which is just across from the convention center. I’m looking at Big Blue right now from the window as I write this.

Entering the Con was simple this year, the line was much shorter for media and vendors.  The usual bag check and wanding went quickly and I was off to find a lanyard for my badge, as well as an ADA wristband due to various health reasons (I always wear my medical alert bracelet at Cons or big events due to my heart condition.)  This proved to be a bit of an adventure so I ended up buying a cute Marvel lanyard and found the ADA bracelets later.

The first thing I did at the Con was turn in my vouchers for the Critical Role autographs I purchased (I just happened to bump into an artist that I know from the Critical Role fan group we’re in and we talked about our excitement to meet the cast – she’d met them before but still, it’s exciting.)

I then walked the floor, stopping at the Breckenridge Brewery booth to taste this years Bocks Machina (also named for Critical Role.) Guys, this beer is delicious and I want to take some home with me. It’s a great summer bock, not too heavy, amber with an amazing flavor and color. I highly recommend it. I sat around on the Breckenridge porch talking to the staff and other attendees as they arrived for their beers.

The floor of Denver Pop Culture Con never fails to amaze me. The kids section is top notch, with all sorts of activities designed to help kids develop STEAM knowledge. Because we’re home schooling I made a point to ask about resources at several of those booths (and we may even get a few of those groups to come talk to Geek Parenting in the future.)

I made some purchases, met up with Johnny briefly, and proceeded to the first interview of the weekend with author, Dacia Arnold. She’s an ex-military mom, who knows how to write. I’m 5 chapters into Apparent Power and am so intrigued by the story I’ll have it finished in a day or two. Stay tuned for her interview on a future episode of Geek Parenting Podcast.

After that I walked the floor a bit more and ran into a few artists, Russ (a friend of one of my co-workers who will be at Salt Lake Gaming Con), saw an amazing Mollumauk cosplay and visited Babs Tarr – who co-hosts Pub Draw on the Critical Role Twitch channel. Again, she has made an impact on Lilly, so I shared how Pub Draw has become one of our go to activities when Lilly is having a hard time. Drawing Scary Terry’s has been an interesting way to get her to calm down and focus. Art is a life-saver.

I was getting pretty tired after all of this so I ended up leaving early for some dinner and a good rest. (I slept 12 hours last night).

I’m looking forward to Day 2. It’s Matt Mercer Day. Squee. But in the meantime enjoy these additional photos (I took with my phone but the camera pics have to wait until I get home because I forgot things.)