Elko Pop Con

2nd Annual Elko Pop Con

Elko’s 2nd Annual Pop Con will take place

august 9th & august 10th at the Elko Convention Center!


MORE INFO TO COME!!

elkopopcon@elkocva.com

                       Vendors

MORE INFO TO COME

                   Cosplay Contest:

Best in Show – $1500.00 Visa gift card

Do you love to create things? Have you made a costume you’re really proud of? Do you want to share what you’re passionate about with the world? Then this is the contest for you!

The Elko Pop Costume Contest celebrates costuming in pop culture and the amazing creations that our attendees make and bring to the convention from far and wide. Here you will find all the information about how our contest is run, the rules involved, and the information you need to submit to reserve a place in the show!

Show Details: The contest takes place on Saturday evening, August 19th, at 6 p.m. on the Elko Convention Center Main Stage. Submission forms need to be filled out online, with photos of the completed (or near completed) design, photos with the character or reference the costume is based on, and a description of the build process.

There are 3 costume categories:

  • Armor & Foamwork – the costume is constructed primarily by molding and shaping its outer layers using acrylic, EVA foam, Worbla, Wonderflex, cardboard, resin, plastics, etc

  • Sewing & Textile – the costume is primarily focused on fabrics and textiles, sewing, stitching, beading, embroidery, knitting, etc.

  • Youth – all types of costumes; competitors must be under 15 years old for this category.

Everyone who has gotten into the costume contest will appear in front of our fantastic guest judges (industry makers and professionals) on Saturday morning, August 19th, to talk about how they made their costumes and answer any questions the judges might have. Then they will go enjoy their day at the convention until call time in the evening.

At 5 p.m., all show contestants will meet up with the show manager, Velma, who will get them into the show order. Then they will take the stage, one by one! Each person will get up to a minute showcasing their designs on stage with a pre-prepared skit.

Judging:

Your costume must be at least 50% handmade by your own crafting skills. You may enter as a solo costume or as a group costume.

  1. Craftsmanship – This criteria is focused on how well your cosplay is made – are your seams clean and straight? Is the garment well-fitted to the person wearing it? Are there smudges of paint or random glue marks anywhere? Rough or mirror smooth? All of these things contribute to your evaluation

  2. Originality/Accuracy – If the cosplay is original or a mashup you’ll be judged on originality. If you are recreating a character we will look at how close you recreated the character.

  3. Level of Difficulty – This is based on the difficulty of techniques used to create the cosplay. Detail, effort, and time put into the cosplay are all taken into consideration.

  4. On-stage Performance – This is where you become your character! The contestant will be judged by how they display their costume on stage; do they just walk on and off? Do they exhibit confidence? Do they act like their character?

If at any time you have questions about this process, please email those questions to costumes@elkocva.com

Armor & Foamcraft

1st Place – $300 Visa gift card

2nd Place – $175 Visa gift card

3rd Place – $75 Frank-N-Freds Comics gift card

Sewing & Textile

1st Place – $300 Visa gift card

2nd Place – $175 Visa gift card

3rd Place – $75 Frank-N-Freds Comics gift card

Youth

1st Place – Nintendo Switch & GameStop gift card

2nd Place – $175 GameStop gift card

3rd Place – $75 Frank-N-Freds Comics gift card

 

What

Elko Pop Con

When

August 9th, 2024

August 10th, 2024

Where

Elko Convention & Visitors Authority

700 Moren Way

Elko NV

Panels & Workshops

So you want to learn something fun, eh? Well Elko Pop Con is the place to do it!

We have a variety of interesting workshops and demonstrations we are offering this year – and there’s something for all ages! Each event will take place in the Workshop Room next to the Sci Fi Cantina inside the convention center, with the exception of a 10 a.m. Spray Paint Art demonstration that will take place outside the convention center entrance. Unless otherwise stated, all workshops will last 45-60 minutes.

2024 Celebrities

COMING SOON

 

 

2023 Celebrities

*SOME CELEBRITIES MAY CHARGE FOR PHOTOS

Leonora Scelfo

Leonora Scelfo was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Her grandfather Ralph Winters ran Universal Studios casting for 30 years with Lew Wasserman casting shows like Gunsmoke and Bonanza. Her mother Deborah Winters was the star of Kotch with Walter Mattau-Blue Sunshine, The Lamp etc. and her grandmother Penny Edwards did all the Roy Rogers movies. Leonora beginning in the film Scream, and she went on to do several more horror films, including Power 98 Do you Wanna Know a Secret and most recently The Girl 2 and the Woodman. She also had an extensive career running a prestigious theater company in upstate New York for 14 years – directing theater, teaching acting as well as doing a tremendous amount of national commercials, and TV shows like the Monk and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Daniel Logan

Daniel Logan is a New Zealander actor known for his role as the young Boba Fett in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, which he continued in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Logan started acting when he was ten years old in commercials and small roles in television series like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

After landing the role of Boba Fett in Star Wars, Logan went on to star in the South Pacific adventure film The Legend of Johnny Lingo. He provided the voice work for Boba Fett and the Clone Cadets in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and continues to work in Hollywood today. Logan currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Dwayne Cameron

Dwayne Cameron is a New Zealand actor, writer, director and producer. Globally Dwayne is best known for playing the role of Tyzonn the Mercury Power Ranger in Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive and also guest-staring in Power Rangers: S.P.D and Power Rangers: DinoThunder. He also has a strong international fanbase from playing the break-out lead role of Bray on the teen drama series The Tribe 1999-2003. Dwayne is also an award-winning writer/director/producer and his latest short film that we wrote, directed, produced and starred in called JUNE has won over 400 awards at more that 180 international film festivals. Award-winning director jane Campion saw JUNE and endorsed Dwane’s film just before she went on to win the BAFTA and Oscar for Best Director at the 2022 Academy Awards. On the acting front, Dwayne recently stared as the lead role opposite Nicola Cage in Millennium Films’ bank heist action movie 211 playing Cage’s son-in-law and police partner and starred opposite Guy Pearce playing the role of Diesel in the film Disturbing the Peace. Dwayne was also cast by Roger Donaldson to star as the title role of Bruce McLaren in Donaldson’s feature-length doco-drama McLaren. He also played leading roles in feature films Nice Package, The Locals and Desired. Recurring roles in internationally disturbed TV series include Street Legal, The Cult, Mercy Peak, Shortland Street, Agent Anna and Legend of the Seeker.

Jen Smart – Lego Master

From Season Two of LEGO Masters on FOX Television, Jen Raine Smart is an American artist who builds mosaic portraits and sculptures from LEGO bricks.”

Evil Ted

Evil Ted worked in the movie industry doing visual effects, prop, and model making for 30 years. He worked on films and television shows such as Fifth Element, Guyver, Titanic, Hunger Games, Xena Warrior Princess, and Criminal Minds. He’s known around the world for his YouTube tutorials teaching cosplayers how to make foam armor and props.

 

After many years of working in Hollywood, Evil Ted decided it was time to take all the tips and tricks he learned over the years and make them available to the everyday builder, he wants to take the intimidation out of building. He is a firm believer that it’s passion over talent, and that anyone can learn to build. He loves cosplay and the community and loves supporting and assisting new builders in the learning process.

Matt Meese

Matt Meese is a sketch comedian, writer, actor, and co-creator of Studio C, a BYUtv sketch comedy show that has over 2 billion views on Youtube. Meese has appeared on JK Studios’ Freelancers, NBC’s Bring the Funny, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. His most recent/current project is the JK Studios’ film “Go West,” now playing in select theaters.

2024 Special Guest

COMING SOON

2023 Special Guest

VelmaRipp Creations – Velma Rippstein

Velma’s a self-taught hobbyist and award-winning freelance costumer who loves the world of possibility that costume making and geek fashion present. In just a decade she has made almost 200 full costumes (not including props!) and enjoys meeting cosplayers from around the world. She also runs the Geekbound Fashion Challenge annually in Utah – a fashion show where all the garments must be nerdy! “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us” (Tolkien) – she chooses to explore ideas, try new techniques, create as much as possible, and to organize opportunities for others to do the same!

 

Tori Pence

Tori Pence is an actress, puppeteer, writer, comedian, and artist from Richmond, VA who currently travels around the country for different work projects. While most notably known for her roles in Divine Comedy and the sketch comedy show Studio C, Tori has been an actress and puppeteer in various TV series and films including V/H/S/99, Freelancers, 9 Years to Neptune, and more. She is also an event MC and creates magic events for libraries including Fairy Tea Parties and Superhero Academy. 

Cameron Ferguson AKA

“SketchGuyNV”

Cameron has been publishing cartoons off and on since the late ’80s. Poking fun at the simple things in life. In the last few years, he has stepped into the much bigger world of self-publishing comic books. He has written and illustrated four issues of “Professor G and Blake” including the complete collection graphic novel, (loosely) based on real-life
Reno area personalities. Because of the success of these comics, he continues to
produce new books.
His style of art comes from years of cartooning. He has a passion for drawing people everywhere he goes. This has led him to draw cartoons and caricatures of all kinds of people worldwide. He has done work for charities and organizations to raise money for their causes. To support his creative side, Cameron sells prints, t-shirts, and comics but
also does commission work as well

(see the links below).

SketchyGuyNV Comics had the first issue released on 4/7/21. The comic book
entitled “Professor G & Blake: The Ring” is a story that introduces the two main
characters after they had know each other for a while as they start to bond as a duo. The Professor and Blake continue their adventures in the next three books, “Professor G & Blake: The Thing”, “Professor G & Blake: The King”, and finally “Professor G & Blake: The Sting”. The final issue is the collection of the first three with the last pages of
the release included at the end. Will there be more of these guys in the future? What about the past? Cameron insists there will be more of this series’ characters in future publications.
In 2023 he released “The Sisters Wolf” a story of a demon-fighting family of witches including two 9-year-old twins, a nurturing older sister, and “Byrne”, a talking head from the civil war. Think of it as a cross of Supernatural and Charmed with two spunky nine-year-olds and a secret society straight out of the Vatican. (Do we need tin foil hats?)
He is also working with Jonathan Greenberg on “Space Lasers” an anthology comic book including “The Shop” and “Short Haul”, tentatively scheduled to release in late 2023.
Cameron also can be found on YouTube on various live streams and on his own
SketchyGuyNV channel.
www.SketchyGuyNV.com
Cameron@SketchyGuyNV.com

Nathan Johns AKA

“Gage the Wolf”

Nathan Johns AKA “Gage theWolf” is considered by family and friends to be a Bard out of time.
His greatest dream was to be a writer. He started comic book creating adventure through
hosting tabletop roleplaying games. He used his imagination to create and share adventures
with his group. Because of his dedication to telling rich stories he built a dedicated gaming
group who still meets regularly, rain or shine, to join him and his creations. He also
commissioned artwork of characters he created in order to immerse his fellow adventures into
the stories. This gave him the idea to translate his years of stories in to a visual form in the form of comic books.
He has written many stories, notably helping write stories and monsters for a new roleplaying book called “After 5e” and various scripts, which ultimately one of them was converted to create his first comic!
His creation, “GodSlayers” is in print and available now in physical and digital formats.
His imagination is constantly going wild creating new worlds and characters to share with everyone.

Sandra Leahy AKA Sandra’s Cosplay Asylum 

Sandra, is a native of Elko Nevada, a graduate of Shaw Academy under Austin Peay State University globally recognized by CPD for Fashion Design where she graduated with distinction.

Sandra began cosplaying in 2014 creating and designing her cosplay and props from scratch. She started her love of cosplay design while creating costumes and props for local fantasy and vampire LARPS.

She has competed and won several cosplay contests both locally at Reno cons, as well as Salt Lake Fan X, Las Vegas comic con, and in a national contest put on by Zenescope comics in which she took 3rd place as one of their Iconic Characters Liesel Van Helsing. Many of her cosplays have been based on various costumes worn by Harley Quinn from DC comics ranging from Christmas Harley to Ghostbuster Harley as well as her comic accurate costume from her original appearance in The Suicide Squad comic book.

She has also designed and created cosplays for others including Jade from Mortal Kombat, The Joker, The Fear Lantern Scarecrow from Batman Comics, Shadow from the Green Arrow comic, and many more.

Instagram – Harlzthe1st

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CostumeAsylum?mibextid=ZbWKwL

The Ghostbusters of Salt Lake

The Ghostbusters of Salt Lake is Utah’s premier Ghostbusters fan group and cosplay/costuming organization. Founded in 2007, the group has maintained its focus on helping out their community by participating at local fundraisers and charity events. This group brings with them authentic uniforms and props from the popular Ghostbusters movies, cartoons and comics universe. “When it walks through the wall, you know who to call!” The Ghostbusters of Salt Lake!

Robert Gift

Elko Pop Con would like to welcome local artist Robert Gift. Be sure to stop by his booth and check out all his amazing artwork. Find more of his artwork at https://www.facebook.com/giftd2014

Rain Williamson

Rain Williamson (@rainfactorfx) is a self-taught SFX makeup artist from Northern California. She started working in the haunted house industry in 2013 where she was able to hone her skills as a makeup and scenic artist. Rain has led the makeup team at Heartstoppers Haunted House in Rancho Cordova, CA for 6 years. Rain started working in film in 2017 and has since combined her love of SFX and Music by working with clients such as Excision, Slander, and Deconstruct. She is a fan of and draws inspiration from 80’s films, folktales, and fantasy, specifically Dragon Age. In her free time she creates curious creations and wearable art such as her ethically sourced bone jewelry and horror inspired pins. If you’re a fan of D&D you’ll want to check out her hand sculpted and painted mimics and dice trays.  

Costume Contest Judges

Evil Ted

Evil Ted worked in the movie industry doing visual effects, prop, and model making for 30 years. He worked on films and television shows such as Fifth Element, Guyver, Titanic, Hunger Games, Xena Warrior Princess, and Criminal Minds. He’s known around the world for his YouTube tutorials teaching cosplayers how to make foam armor and props.

 

After many years of working in Hollywood, Evil Ted decided it was time to take all the tips and tricks he learned over the years and make them available to the everyday builder, he wants to take the intimidation out of building. He is a firm believer that it’s passion over talent, and that anyone can learn to build. He loves cosplay and the community and loves supporting and assisting new builders in the learning process.

Going Ape Costume – Becky Lee Evans

Going Ape started her career in costuming more than 30 years ago, managing a costume rental in Utah County.  From there, she attended Southern Utah University where she studied Theater Costume and Family and Consumer Sciences with a sewing emphasis.  After college, Becky and her husband, Justin, moved their family to West Wendover, Nevada, where she’s created and sold custom Halloween costumes online for over 25 years.

In 2014, Going Ape entered the world of cosplay, choosing her personal costumes based on the challenge of the build and learning new skills.  Adding to decades of sewing experience, she also builds cosplay with foam, Worbla, sculpting, electronics, lighting and painting. Going Ape has competed in several cosplay contests at the Master level with the highlight being the Larger than Life Winner at the TwitchCon 2019 Cosplay Contest.  She is also a traditional artist, a mom to three grown sons, and a herder of cats.

Troy Alan Larson

Since 2005, Troy has worked in several different areas of the special effects industry, from costumes and masks to prosthetics and large-scale suits as well as puppets and animatronics. Most notably, he did the creature suits, props and created the special makeup effects for Deadstream as well as V:H:S 99 and was even nominated for a Chainsaw Award for the latter. Recently he created an art exhibit in Layton, UT called “Unworldly Exhibit” that showcases the process involved in creating these various pieces.

Sydney Martinez / Travel Nevada

ELKO POP CON POLICIES-

We follow two main rules: FUN and SAFETY.

We are a kid-friendly and family-friendly event, and we want to make sure everyone has a good time and enjoys the con in a friendly and safe environment.

Attendees must respect common sense rules for public behavior, personal interaction, common courtesy, and respect for private property.

– No harassing, bullying or any other kind of offensive behavior – we are really serious about it!

– No smoking.

– No drugs.

– No pets.

– Simulated weapons are allowed as a part of your costume and will be checked for safety.

– No property damage.

– All guests are subject to change.

– Children under the age of 13 must be supervised by a parent/guardian at all times.

– Respect other people’s personal space and ask permission before photographing, touching, or in any way making contact with anyone else.