Our Adventures at Syfy Bartow

We knew getting to Bartow would be tiring. Neither of us have been at our best the last few weeks, so we started the weekend tired and a little overwhelmed. For one thing, we were both still working on ‘Bartow Projects’ right up until we started packing the car. Scratch that, my hubby was still working on projects even as we started packing the car on Thursday.

One of our neighbors saw us trying to get a folding table and a gazebo in the car and came over to see if he could help. Those were the big, awkward things we were trying to pack first. Most everything else was smaller and lighter, and we could manage them. But it’s nice to know we have nice neighbors.

We got most things in the car on Thursday, and decided we had room to take a fellow Klingon who otherwise did not have a way to get to Bartow. He showed up on Friday about 11am and helped get the rest of the stuff in the car. Then we got on the road about 2:18 pm.

I’m a little bit of a nervous driver these days, especially when I’m driving roads I don’t really know well, so it was tough for me to keep my speed up near the speed limit. It should have taken us an hour to get to our hotel in Bartow, but it actually took 1.5 hours. We found our stuff we would need for the night and settled into our room. About 7, we walked over to Mike’s Grill for supper.

We got up about 7 on Saturday, and went to Mike’s Grill for breakfast, because we knew it was going to be a long and hard day. People who come to the street festival can go home when they get tired, but vendors have to unload their vehicle, pitch their gazebo, set up their table and get their wares displayed by 11AM, when the festival starts. Then they are expected to man their table until 6PM, when the festival ends, when they tear down their display, strike their tents, retrieve their vehicle and pack everything up.

We had to do this twice, once for MoonPhaze and once for the Klingons. Happily, my booth space was right next to some friends, so I had help setting up the gazebo and taking it down. And there were many Klingons there for this event, so it looked like a mild case of bedlam when I dropped off my two Klingons and all the Klingon stuff we had brought, but I knew they would soon have things up and running.

I assume the Klingons had fun. I had a great day for MoonPhaze. I had 50% more book sales than I did at the previous best event, which was a 3-day sf convention. I was very happy.

About 3:30, the organizers told us that rain was expected in about an hour, so if we wanted to tear down and bug out, that was acceptable. Around 4, it started misting, and people started packing things away. By 4:30, it was raining, and the organizers called an end to the event. By then, most of the visitors had left. I packed all my stuff up and stored it temporarily under a store’s overhang while I walked over to the Klingon area to get my car and load up the Klingon stuff. Then we went back to my booth area, where our passenger repacked the car to get everything in, and we helped our friends in the next booth take down gazebos and load their van.

We were all cold, wet and worn out when we got in our car and headed back to the hotel. We got there about 7 and stopped at Mike’s Grill for supper, which included some wonderful beef noodle soup.

Tired as we were, we count this event as a success!

Report on Bartow Con

I knew Bartow Con was coming long before it got here. But for a long time, I didn’t think I would be going to it. They had no more vendor’s tables, and the word was that the Klingon table would be outside. I burn at the drop of a sunbeam and don’t handle heat well, so I saw no reason for me to go.

 

But then I was reminded that I was navigator for my husband’s shuttle. I couldn’t get my own costume done in time, so I borrowed a TOS (the original series) costume and got myself ready to navigate. By then, thank goodness, the ‘club’ tables had been moved to a room inside the building. So we loaded up the shuttle with cargo and a passenger and headed out.

 

The event was held on Saturday, Oct 14, at the Bartow Civic Center in Bartow FL. We had to have our area set up and ready by 9:30 AM on the 14^th, or we could arrive Friday afternoon and set it up. We opted to set up on Friday, so we left our home about noon, picked up our passenger about 1, and headed for Bartow using highways and some local roads. We thought about using I4 to get us about halfway there, but it was several miles north of our position, and would have taken us longer.

 

The trip was uneventful except we accidentally turned a little early before we actually reached Bartow City Limits. Luckily, that road dumped us onto Old Bartow Road, which we followed south and came right to the hotel we had booked. So we checked in, unloaded things not needed at our table, and had a very late lunch before we went to the Civic Center.

 

It took us maybe an hour to unload our shuttle and set up our area. Other Klingons were already there, helping the Federation set up their area, but they were mostly done with that and were very helpful in getting us set up. Having accomplished that, we went back to the hotel, had supper and settled in for the night.

 

In the morning on Saturday, hubby was a bit under the weather, so I drove our passenger to the Civic Center and dropped him off. On the way back, I stopped and got some basic meds to treat my hubby. He was mostly garbed when I got to the hotel room, so I helped him finish up, and we were off, arriving at the Civic Center a few minutes before 10, which was when the even began. I dropped Hubby off at the door, then parked the shuttle in the grass with the other shuttles.

 

Our space was in a room with 4 ‘clubs’ having space, and half the room was set up as a panel room. It took some time for people to find this room, but by the time the first panel took place about noon, visitors were pretty common. Two more Klingons showed up about 10:30, meaning we had 8 Klingons in uniform for this event.

 

I spent most of the day at the table space, handing out brochures, business cards and keychains. That allowed the others to wander about the con, seeing what was where and who was there. About 4 times, hubby came back with a cup of flavored shaved ice, which we shared between us. One time, he sent me to get a shaved ice, so I could get whatever flavor I wanted. On my way, I picked up a bag of popcorn, which turned out to be very salty. And another time, one of the Klingons was enjoying some Birthday Cake-flavored cotton candy. I had never heard of that flavor, so she offered me a taste. I pulled off a tiny fluff, and it very definitely tasted like birthday cake!

 

Three times, we gathered all the Klingons together to get some group photos taken at various photo opportunities. The photos were fun, but the process of getting everybody gathered together in one place was like herding cats!

 

Let me describe the venue. The civic center has 2 ‘main entrances’, both of which open into a large room with a stage. This room was filled with vendors selling books, patches, uniforms, foodstuffs, craft items, retro toys… Lots of stuff! There was a smaller room to the south of the west entrance, and this seemed to be full of artists selling their wares. If you turn north before you come in the west entrance, there is another room with more vendors and a guy with 4 or 5 backdrops for photo ops. Now, back through the main room. On the north side of the stage, there was a short hallway that led to the VIP room, where the media guests were selling photos and autographs. There were also other VIPs, such as best-selling authors and the like. If you go through this room and out the other side, you come to an open-air hallway and you find the room where we were located.

Several food trucks were in the parking lot outside the west entrance. If it sounds confusing, it was; there was at least one room I wasn’t aware of before we went to it to have photos taken.

I think we were all agreed that Bartow Con 2023 was not a bad effort for a first con. I don’t know what kind of meeting rooms the local hotels might offer, but they might deserve a look. If the committee finds the Civic Center is their only choice, they might make maps of the facility available, either on the wall near doorways or in a brochure that also lists the panels and where they are located. And if they can find another room, they might consider offering gaming, which is generally pretty popular at these types of gatherings. I wasn’t able to watch it, but I understand their costume call was popular, and in front of the stage was crowded as people waited to hear who won what prize in which category.

 

After the last panel in our room ended about 5:30, 5 or 6 of us started tearing down our display. I walked to the shuttle and brought it around to the closest entrance so we could load up.

 

Five of us were staying at the same hotel, so we all went to supper together and enjoyed ourselves before returning to our rooms for the night.

 

In the morning, we piled our suitcases in the shuttle and headed out a little after 9. I was a little foggy-headed this morning and found myself confused about what direction we would turn as we tried to follow the instructions backwards. Once I confessed that, our passenger got out his Google Maps and took over navigating, sending us cross country on county roads and local streets until we finally got to his house. We helped him unload his stuff, and then headed home, arriving about 11:30.

 

We feel the journey was a success.