DSBN FanCon turns pop culture passions into career inspiration

Even though class wasn’t in session at Greater Fort Erie Secondary School (GFESS) on Saturday, there were still lessons to be learned at the annual District School Board of Niagara (DSBN) FanCon, a celebration of pop culture and much more.

There were close to 30 vendors and an attendance of about 700 people, said lead organizer Christian Kentie, the owner of the Frugal Dutchman in downtown Ridgeway.

Kentie is an accredited Pokémon judge and expert who deals in board games, action figures, and comic books.

He joined the event in 2017 after it was held in the final days of Fort Erie Secondary School in 2016.

He said an important message the event tries to convey is that while video games, movies and TV, comic books and other forms of entertainment are a way to pass time, they’re also fields young people can pursue careers in.

It’s a “passion to profession” mentality that gets shared through special guests and industry professionals who have participated over the years.

“It’s about how to take the thing you love doing and turn it into how you earn a living,” he said.

Event organizers are also in the midst of creating bursaries that will support students pursuing an artistic career through the FanCon Foundation.

“That’s kind of a hard thing to come by nowadays, as the arts get cut back,” he said referring to government funding for arts programs being reduced.

Kentie said GFESS and DSBN have been “overwhelmingly gracious” with lending their space for the annual event.

Paul Boyko, from St. Catharines, was at FanCon representing Southern Ontario Game Developers, a community of people who build video games.

He said Ontario is the busiest province in the industry, and that Canada is the second-most-productive country in the game development world, behind the United States and ahead of Japan.

Boyko also said an important message is that video games aren’t just a “waste of time,” as some people may feel, and that it’s a massive industry that employs thousands of people globally.

It’s also a way for people who are computer savvy to be creative.

“It’s a way to tell stories and share experiences,” he said.

Brily Lepine and Mike Tigan, both from the Greater Toronto Area, were two “Ontario Ghostbusters” who were posing for photos and chatting with attendees.

They are licensed by Sony, the studio behind the iconic franchise.

Lepine said they have to make sure their uniforms are “exactly right” when compared to what’s seen on screen in the movies.

“We’re weird like that,” he joked.

Jill Nagel, one of the vendors, was there with her business ‘Jill’s Junk,’ consisting of several handmade, sewn characters, or “weirdos,” as she called them.

This wasn’t the first time she set up shop at the event.

“It just keeps getting bigger and better,” she told Fort Erie Radio.

Ridgeway resident Evan McKay took his six-year-old twin sons Axel and Eli out for the afternoon. He was impressed by admission being free and how much was being offered.

“There’s not a lot of stuff to do so it’s nice to have something that’s affordable,” he said.

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