Last year, more than 6,000 people showed up at the Blair County Convention Center for a weekend of fun cosplaying, playing tabletop games and attending celebrity guest panels. Revenues for this weekend’s convention are up nearly five times from last year, Bassett said.

Nearly two hours after the doors opened Friday, “lines and lines of people” were waiting in the downstairs lobby to meet celebrity guests, Bassett said.

This year, the convention is promoting a “Futurama” reunion of voice actors Billy West, Lauren Tom, Phil Lamarr and Maurice Lamarche. Voice actors from video games “Red Dead Redemption II” like Rob Wiethoff and Roger Clark and Shawn Fonteno and Ned Luke from “Grand Theft Auto V” are also taking photos and signing autographs for fans.

From noon until 8 p.m. Saturday only, the convention will operate a shuttle service from the Altoona Curve’s parking garage to help with the parking as the convention center’s parking garage and the nearby lots fill to capacity rather quickly, Bassett said.

Portage residents Zach Vickroy (left) and Zack Stair have fun dressed as Mario and Luigi at Sci-Fi Valley Con Friday at the Blair County Convention Center. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

“We just overload this building,” he said. “We’re probably the biggest event that the Blair County Convention Center has.”

Bassett said he hopes to keep the momentum going since, for the first time, Sci-Fi Valley Con will return to the Blair County Convention Center for a second event in November, which has 12 celebrity guests already confirmed.

“This is probably our biggest year ever,” he said, noting that there are so many vendors interested in participating at Sci-Fi Valley Con, they had to increase the cost per table this year and will be limiting the number of tables available for the November event.

J.M. Desantis, a writer and artist vendor from New Jersey, said he started coming to Altoona three years ago when a fan from the area drove to New Jersey and told him about it at another convention.

“It’s been a good show every year, so I come back,” he said, adding although he can’t make it to the November event, he hopes the idea of having two events per year “turns out really well” for the convention.

Matt Edwards of Nanty Glo plays vintage video games with his daughter, Samantha, and her friend, Phalen Knepper. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

Haili Ortego, the social media and marketing manager at Cartridges Galore in Altoona, said Sci-Fi Valley Con is one of their favorite conventions to attend because of its “homegrown feel.”

“It’s really nice to get involved with the community and be a presence,” she said. “We love giving back. We love doing all sorts of fun things like this.”

Ortego said the Cartridges Galore staff loves the convention so much that they decided to sponsor the event this year.

She enjoys it when people ask whether they have a certain retro video game in stock. In most instances, she gets to brighten the customer’s day with good news.

“It’s super fun because they’re used to bigger chain stores that don’t cater to the retro gaming community, so it’s really nice to be a hub for that,” she said.

Tim Miller from the Starkiller Garrison of the 501st Legion, a volunteer organization serving central and western Pennsylvania, plays with his Star Wars droid Friday at Sci-Fi Valley Con. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

Another vendor, artist Megan Affolter of Pittsburgh, said she feels the same type of validation whenever people buy pieces of her artwork collection.

“When people come up to me and they buy something from me, it’s very validating to know what I’m doing actually means something to somebody and it brings somebody enough happiness and joy that they want to buy it and hang it on their wall at home,” she said.

Affolter said she attends many conventions near Pittsburgh but enjoys coming to Altoona to meet new people. On Friday, she said she enjoys Sci-Fi Valley Con because it’s “low-key.”

Many of the attendees said they enjoy the convention for the same reasons.

“It’s just fun to look at the exhibits and see who they bring in every year,” said Altoona resident Carter Esworthy, who attended the convention Friday with his dad, William Wance.

Brandon McDonald of Irwin draws artwork at Sci-Fi Valley Con, where the number of vendors and attendees have grown exponentially over the past few years. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

Friends Zack Stair and Zach Vickroy, both of Portage, dressed as Nintendo characters Mario and Luigi and posed for photos with other attendees.

Emily James of Gallitzin also cosplayed with her friends for the event. This year was her second time attending the convention.

“The vibes are really nice here,” she said.

Malachi Claybaugh of Altoona said he plans to attend as many of the celebrity guest panels he can over the weekend. “I love all of the celebrities this year,” he said.

Zach Shawver, Madyson Mann and Theran Cripe, all of Bellefonte, were first-time attendees this year. All three dressed up as Spider-Man.

“We’ve found the community to be very welcoming so we just wanted to actually come and check it out. So far, we have not been disappointed. Everyone here has been so nice,” Shawver said.

Mann said she “really likes it here” at the convention.

“I got dragged along by these two,” said Cripe. “I am the tag-along.”

All three said they’re eager to come back in November since they’re big Pokemon fans and are able to buy Pokemon merchandise from vendors, like Krista Fields of Reading, who made clear acrylic Pokeballs with miniature figures of Pokemon inside with a background made from scratch.

First, she cuts an acrylic ball in half and adds a layer of foam to the bottom. Then she paints it and adds grass or flowers with the miniature figure and seals the ball shut, Fields explained.

Each Pokeball takes between two to three hours to make depending on what it needs, she added.

Shawver said he and his friends are coming back to the convention Saturday, which will feature question and answer panels with the celebrity voice actors from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. as well as celebrity photo ops and autograph sessions.

A complete schedule of events for Saturday and Sunday can be found online, www.scifivalleycon.com.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.