Tired of brightly lit comic cons that feel like one big vendor room? Well, there’s a new convention called ENCHANTMEN Con coming to the Florida comic con scene in May that aims to bring together five distinct fandom Realms in one “dark con” event. The Realms themselves will feature custom lighting and visuals to give the convention a unique atmosphere where you can better immerse yourself in the event experience.

What Makes ENCHANTMENT Different?

I sent the event concept creator Max Michaels a few questions to get a better idea of what to expect at ENCHANTMENT, which will be held in St. Augustine, FL, May 27 – 28.

What exactly is a dark con?

It is something I made up to try and describe what we’re attempting to do. I travel to a lot of shows for our CONcentric con guide and to promote all of our events and the majority are the same florescent-lit, boxy-rowed, by-the-numbers events. For this one in particular I didn’t want to just do another cookie cutter show, I wanted to do something very different.

My spiel is this; “Think of the con like a pop-up mini theme park, with a center of shopping and activities, surrounded by different sections (that we’re calling ‘Realms’) that, like a dark ride at a theme park, will be lower lit and decorated with custom lighting, visuals, and audio all geared toward the theme of that Realm.”

Where did you get the inspiration from?

Over the last couple of years our Hall of Heroes company produced 12+ events per year, which was a grueling and hectic schedule that, though successful, was taking its toll on us. So, the idea was to take a fantasy show idea that I had on the back burner and consolidate some of those individual one-day show themes (Force Fest, Heroes & Villains, Wizarding Market, Player Ball, and CosCon) under one single event that we could put a lot more focus and resources into.

Have you attended a similar event?

I’ve never been to any similar event that resembles what we have planned.

Have you run into any challenges setting up this concept?

Doing something like this, which to my knowledge hasn’t been done before, there are plenty of challenges. Trying to get the concept across is a major one, but I think it’s going to be something people will just have to see firsthand to really get the full picture. But on the other side, the creative process free of most of the usual trapping has been its own reward. It’s been extremely fun to be able to color outside the lines.

Will the realms be in their own individual rooms, or will it be one large area with realms sanctioned off?

We are configuring the multiple rooms to be separated by theme, but with “gateways” between each from the central vendor area.

How will everything be lit?

We intend to lower the standard lighting and alternately light everything in a variety of ways. Much like a dark ride at an amusement park it’s not all necessarily in the actual dark. It won’t be so dark in any part of the con that pathways wouldn’t be easily visible.

The vendor area will be lit more traditionally than the Realms, though we are encouraging our vendors to bring their own lighting to augment the experience. There will be plenty of lit areas to show off what needs to be seen throughout the show including all the photo op areas.

Will there be music setting the scene in each area?

The VIP package comes with headphones that will feature channels with music for four of the Realms. Patrons can switch to the channel as they move from Realm to Realm.

See You at ENCHANTMENT Con!

I’m happy to say that I will be a cosplay guest at ENCHANTMENT, and you can find me in Realm:2 The COSPLAYGROUND! Find out more about ENCHANTMENT Con and get tickets at: https://www.enchantmentcon.com/

About the Author

Candy Keane is a digital content creator and long-time cosplayer, most well-known for being on the cover of the Star Wars documentary Jedi Junkies. After making costumes professionally for over a decade, she now writes about about geek culture and mom life, and continues to cosplay for fun, while sharing her love of costumes on Instagram @SewGeekMama. Her first children’s book, I’m Going to My First Comic Convention, was published in 2020 and won a Story Monsters Approved award for Excellence in Literature.

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