Above, Lara "Angelique" Parker.
This year's Dark Shadows Festival was held this weekend at the Burbank Marriott Hotel Convention Center. The theme was Dark Shadows Resurrected. The convention was not exactly a "resurrection."
The last Dark Shadows Festival I attended was back around 1992 at the LAX Marriott Hotel. That convention was well-attended and the convention had a main session hall, banquets, a big dealers room, video room, art room and other things for attendees to occupy their time with. Plus, the attendees had easy access to the guests. It was an impressive convention with a lot of enthusiasm.
Above, Kathryn Leigh "Maggie Evans/Josette" Scott.
Unfortunately, the Dark Shadows Festival at the Burbank Marriott (next to the Bob Hope Airport) was sparsely-attended (maybe 400 tops), had a tiny dealers room (with not all tables occupied), a main hall and not much else. In the lobby area, there were some displays of photos, memorabilia and fan art. It also contained the tables for the celebrities to autograph programs and memorabilia for the fans. The Dark Shadows celebrities present were Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker and Marie Wallace.
David Selby was scheduled to have a session at 3:00 and Jonathan Frid was scheduled for a 4:30 session.
Sorry folks, there was just not enough there to keep my interest up to hang around for the aforementioned sessions.
Recently, I was part of a committee that put on the annual G-FEST convention for Godzilla enthusiasts in Chicago. G-FEST has far more things for attendees to do, including a huge dealers room, more than one session room for panels, video gaming, G-Pardy games, video room, a special room for small-fry activities, etc. In other words, G-FEST had more "bang for the buck" than did the Dark Shadows Festival.
My question is: What happened to the great Dark Shadows Festivals of yore? Frankly, I was greatly disappointed. With a $15/day admission price and a $12/day parking charge, one would expect that the promotors would have put on a better show. They must have lost some key organizers over the years. The little contact with the convention's staff I had gave me the impression that they lacked enthusiasm. One guy, who led a session on the new Johnny Depp Dark Shadows movie, was snarky to some convention attendees who were having a quiet conversation in back of the main hall before he took the stage. Nothing like making your customers feel welcome!
At least Lara Parker, Kathryn Leigh Scott and Marie Wallace were gracious to the conventioneers. As one who has been a part of convention organizing and planning, I felt embarrassed for them.
2 comments:
I was there & had a pretty good time.
Attendance was down, sure, but the DS actors were cheerful & easy to approach.
I think, though, that there was a bit more than 400.
But way down from years past.
The problem is that DS reruns have been off the airwaves
for 5 years.
Out of sight, out of mind.
So only the most hardcore of fans still go to the events.
When the Johnny Depp DS film comes out in 2010, DS will see a major revival.
David, I'm glad you had a good time. The last DS Festival I attended previously was in 1991 and it was great. Plenty for people to do.
Unfortunately, this was pretty bare-bones as far as conventions go. If I flew in from another state for this, I really would be ticked.
Others have voiced the same opinions on this one and found, as I did, the staff didn't seem to have much enthusiasm.
I hope you're right about the effects of the Johnny Depp movie.
Take care.
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