ALLEYCON 2014

On Friday, September 26, the geeky celebration of pop culture that is AlleyCon 2014 officially began with an ice-breaker event at The First Alleyway restaurant.  As the site of AlleyCon last year, The First Alleyway was the perfect location to kickstart what will now become an annual event in Gwangju for the foreseeable future! Surrounded by fantastic people and buzzed by the exclusive drinks offered in honor of the special weekend, I knew Saturday’s main event would be a fantastic day all-around.

Saturday morning rolled upon us and while the Con attendees slept, the Grey Council – the organizers of AlleyCon – were hard at work at Kwangju- Women’s University, putting together the final pieces of the puzzle they had been working on for months. They knew that AlleyCon had to be bigger and better than last year, and without a doubt, they delivered.

Not only were there video games, board games and a cosplay contest, but there was a dedicated Magic: The Gathering tournament, live performances by the Gwangju Performance Players, shows by local bands Poster Child and Malarkey, food from ’Cause Banana Bread and The First Alleyway, drinks from nFuze Tea, Gwangju souvenirs and resources from the Gwangju International Center, the D&D Pay2Play, Skype interviews with international sci-fi authors and appearances by local authors and artists! AlleyCon raised a whopping total of 3,539,520 KRW for various charities, including this year’s Adopt-a-Child and the Mike Simning Ndwara Scholarship Fund.

In this case, bigger was definitely better, and AlleyCon delivered a massive experience for all.