Crypticon Live Blog – 4:50pm
Crypticon is officially open for business. The VIP hour has begun, with the vendors’ booths on display for those who spent the extra love to acquire their three day passes of privilege, and are able to escape their other obligations a little early. Fellow vendors also use this time to inspect the wares of their peers. In minutes, the general populous will join them, and the actors, authors, and other guests will take their places.
This year, the bulk of Crypticon Seattle haunts the lower garage of the Holiday Inn here in lovely Everett, WA, as well as a few rooms on the main floor for presentations and screenings. While other conventions may suffer bewilderment at the idea of existing in a garage, Cypticon seems to thrive with the atmosphere. Sounds and improvised lighting stand out all the more. The heavy metal of a display DVD mixes into the atmosphere with the screams and mood music of a fully constructed miniature haunted house.
Art, make-up, comics, collectibles, and films adorn tabletops and fill makeshift displays. The merchants each seem to have their own solution for displaying their goods, from PVC pipe to full professional level display to the type of wire shelving one would spend an afternoon installing in their garage. Only nobody had a full afternoon; having to be ready to open within a couple hours of their first arrival.
The big challenge for many was electricity. Parking garages aren’t exactly known for their abundance of power outlets. The staff slowly but surely made sure each booth was ready for opening; some cut it a little closer than others, but all juiced up on time.
Being a vendor at a horror convention has its advantages. Like the attendees, most are true horror fans themselves. “I like to sell my art, but it’s more than that. I like talking to the fans about horror films,” Matt Cail tells me from his horrorart.biz booth. “I get more social interaction talking about horror in one day here than I do the overall rest of the year.” His art reflects the love of horror that fills many of the rest of our hearts, and he’s just as quick to smile when Kane Hodder or Heather Langenkamp walks by as any other attending fan.
It’s a little past 5 now as I finish this blog, and more costumed fans with latex scarring and corn syrup blood are roaming the booths. I think I’ll report back later, and go join them in celebrating the frightening and fantastical
-Doug W
