CHAMBERSBURG – Last Saturday, Fandom Fest returned to Rosedale parking lot in downtown Chambersburg for its second year last Saturday. And like a good sequel, it was bigger and better than the first time around. 

While live action role players demonstrated their combat skills near the park’s freshly-planted Liberty Tree, contestants lined up for the costume contest down by the water wheel. Up in the main lot, the Franklin County Bookmobile was parked only a few vendor spaces away from KITT from Knight Rider and the A-Team’s van. Mermaids chilled in their grotto while Chambersburgers enjoyed the warm sun. 

“I am an equal opportunity fan,” said Brittany Shade, coordinator for the Downtown Business Council for Chambersburg. Her interests include Harry Potter, Disney, heroes, mermaids, pirates, fairies, and more. She enjoys both Star Wars and Star Trek. “I cross those lines,” she says laughing. For Shade, being a fan means saying yes to fun and never having to choose.

You could say that she is a fan of fandoms.

For an event like Fandom Fest, Shade’s responsibilities include getting the permits to use the space, coordinating with the various vendors, creating the map for the event, advertising (including social media), and organizing sponsorships “so that we can have some of the fun activities like the Mermaid Grotto and the bounce house as well as the prizes for the costume contest.”

On the day of the festival Shade is the liaison between visitors and vendors. In the afternoon she is the emcee of the costume contest.

Shade is also a Hufflepuff, one of the school houses in Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, according to the embroidered patch on her elbow. 

“Hufflepuffs are known to be loyal and kind,” she said. “They’re usually the creatives in the world. They love really good food because their house is right by the kitchens of Hogwarts.”

There were a number of changes to the event this year. 

First, the organizers changed the date of it. Last year, Fandom Fest was bundled in with other downtown events including Earth Day, the Spring Food Truck Festival and Swing into Spring. 

“We felt it was a substantial enough of an event to hold its own outside of Earth Day that we moved it,” said Shade. The decision allows both events to get the attention they deserve.

In addition to having its own special day, the event has also expanded. Like a good sequel, many vendors returned from the first Fandom Fest, but some new ones were introduced. Shade estimates that they’ve added about 10 new vendors. 

As a bonus, many of those vendors were making their downtown debuts. For example, Fandom Fest collaborated with the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter for the first time creating a unique meet-and-greet opportunity with the public.

Fandom can be sports. It can be cars. It could be art in general. And then you have the pop culture references, of course, too. We’re trying to bring that culture to the entire downtown to really make it feel inviting.

Brittany Shade, coordinator for Chambersburg’s Downtown Business Council

For the most part the competitions continued unchanged this year. They did, however, add a new category to the Lego-building competition that allows contestants to build “the most amazing creation they could think of” at home and bring it to the event to be judged. 

This is also the first year that the costume contest was actually held at Fandom Fest because last year’s contest was cancelled on account of weather. 

Events like Fandom Fest are about having fun, but they are also opportunities to attract visitors to Chambersburg’s downtown.

Shade said that Fandom Fest in particular is about “bringing a different group of people downtown that maybe don’t necessarily congregate downtown – or certainly don’t congregate all at one time.” 

One of the challenges that Shade faced when explaining Fandom Fest to advertisers was overcoming the myth that fans (i.e., geek) aren’t social creatures.

Despite those largely unfounded stereotypes, fans can, will and do gather. And they do it in large numbers. The San Diego Comic-Con draws more than 130,000 people each year (setting a world record). Closer to home, Pennsylvanians can visit Harrisburg’s Four State Comic Con or Monroeville’s Steel City Con. Could Fandom Fest be Chambersburg’s answer to these conventions? Only time will tell, but it’s off to a promising start.

“It really gives the people in this community the space and the opportunity to kind of be who they are in an environment that is accepting and celebratory of their differences,” said Mark Miller, president of the Downtown Business Council. “We’ve had a lot of different people out here, and it’s been great.”

He explained that his job was mostly to support and encourage Shade because “she’s the one who spear-headed this event. It’s kind of her baby, and she loves it, so we want her to be happy, we want her to be successful, and the board came out to support her.”

Based on the success of this year’s sequel, Miller predicts there will at least be another Fandom Fest to complete the trilogy and that it will be “bigger and better than ever.”

Brittany Shade adds: “Fandom can be sports. It can be cars. It could be art in general. And then you have the pop culture references, of course, too. We’re trying to bring that culture to the entire downtown to really make it feel inviting.”

At its heart, fandom is just unapologetically liking something, and at the end of the day, everyone is a fan of something. 

For Shade and the Downtown Business Council, that’s worth celebrating.