COURTENAY, B.C. – Geeks united this weekend for the first ever CoVaCon in the Comox Valley.
The event was lead by the Comox Valley Geeks Society. Founder and Head of Memberships, Zachary Lloyd, said he was happy to see such a strong turnout at the Florence Filberg Centre.
“It was fantastic. We got about 350 to 400 people through the door,” he said.
Lloyd noted that they were able to raise about $6800 in ticket sales, with some of their funds helping a charitable cause.
“We were able to make a sizable donation of $700 to the Boys and Girls Club to further grow our partnership with them. We are hoping to help them out with a lot more and do a lot more things with the Boys and Girls Club moving forward with our partnership,” he said.
The event featured a mixture of guests, including Victoria’s Skookum Props and Armour, Nanaimo-based comic artist Nevin Arnold and Herocraft Creations, also known as the Dark Knight of Victoria.
“It was a lot of fun. We had a lot of positive feedback, and people are looking forward to next year.”
The Comox Valley Geek Society was founded on July 17, 2017. Although the group is not even a year old, CoVaCon was actually their second big event in the Comox Valley.
Lloyd said last year, during Moonlight Madness in downtown Courtenay, the group held a Christmas Geek Market.
“I was dressed up as (Darth) Vader, but then I put on a Santa hat and a big red cape. I walked up and down and had photo ops with people on 5th Street. We’re hoping again to do that and make it an annual event, the same day as Moonlight Madness,” he explained.
He said that the group wants to help people get involved in local community events.
“We just want to foster wholesome, you know, family values of playing board games and getting people interested in the ‘geekier’ side of things. That’s pretty much our mandate, to have fun.”
Membership sign up for the Comox Valley Geek Society can be completed through the group’s website for $20. “You’ll get access to our site, where you can have free forums if you’re a vendor, or if you do a lot of Christmas fairs, or you sell things that you make, you get free access to contacts of other geeky vendors and people who own their own businesses,” he said.
“The 20 dollars of the membership also allows you to become a part of the Board of Directors. We’re going to have our annual general meeting in May, and if you want to apply for one of the eight board positions, you have to be a good-standing member.”
Lloyd said a date for their meeting has yet to be set, but suggested that it will probably be at the end of next month.
More details on the Comox Valley Geek Society can be found through this link.
