Fans of comics, movies, and everything in between can start getting excited: the Saskatchewan Entertainment Expo has expanded to Regina and the two-day event will be packed with media guests, vendors, and artists catered to a huge range of interests — scheduled media guests represent fan bases from Star Trek to Degrassi.
Chris Bernhard, co-owner of the event company, is excited to have a great lineup of famous faces for fans to meet, hear panels from, get autographs, and take photos with.
“Our guest lineup this year features LeVar Burton, who's near and dear to our hearts with all of his positive work on Reading Rainbow and being on Star Trek: The Next Generation,” said Bernhard.
He also noted that Walking Dead star Laurie Holden, who played Andrea in the hit show, will be there, as well as Highlander star Adrian Paul — who will be hosting a swordplay workshop.
“You’ll learn basic fight choreography from Adrian himself, which is something that we haven't had the opportunity to do before,” said Bernhard. “So that's new, for us as well.”
Bernhard promises that the inaugural Regina convention will have whatever it is your looking for.
“There is something for everyone. If you're a fan of books and comics, there’s tons of indie creators and local authors that are there selling their science fiction and fantasy novels, as well as vendors from all across the country. . . selling all kinds of pop culture related items.”
The Expo never fails to recognize local talent as well: hailing from Regina, writer-artist Jason Sylvestre and illustrator Joel Hustak are featured guests, as well as Humboldt’s Jeff Burton, creator of comic hero Auroraman.
This year’s charity of choice is Moose Jaw’s own Joe’s Place Youth Centre, who will be bringing some of their impressive props to set up for fans to take photos with, by donation. Their cosplay corner is in partnership with the 501st Legion Badlands Garrison and the Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club — between those three, there will be tons of Star Wars representation.
Bernhard and co-owner Mike Fisher have been running the Entertainment Expo in Saskatoon since 2013, and are excited to bring the experience to Regina. The absence of the Fan Expo prompted the pair to fill in the gap, for the fans who were disappointed to see the previous event leave.
“It just felt sort of natural to say, ‘okay, well if there's an opening for us, maybe we'll give it a shot,’” said Bernhard. "We're a locally owned and operated event, so it's two guys from Saskatchewan that are doing this. . . We're just excited to bring what we do in Saskatoon to down south and see if people like it."
Tickets for the event are available online at saskexpo.com, with day passes and weekend passes priced at $25 and $35 respectively, until Friday. Tickets will also be available at the doors on the day of the event but will increase by $5.
“And if you're not really into the online buying, if you're in Regina and local, that's another thing that's new: we've got tickets that you can buy from. . . Comic Readers, downtown or in the south,” said Bernhard. “They'll have tickets on sale until Friday as well.”
More information about photo ops, panels, cosplay rules, and a full list of guests can be found on the Expo’s website, or by checking out their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
