By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
Del Rio Comic-Con brought out the creative side from hundreds of Del Rioans this weekend as the event welcomed more than 5,000 people to the Del Rio Civic Center Saturday and Sunday.
Executive director Paul Mancha said the turnout was good and the response from the community was wonderful. He said he and his team were busy putting the convention together and had a lot of promoters help out this year.
“Hopefully we can reach around 6,000 people attending, but the main plan is for everyone to just have fun,” Mancha said Saturday.
Mancha said they had more than 3,000 people attend Saturday, and on Sunday they were estimating more than 2,000 attendees.
The convention included video game tournaments and a cosplay contest on Saturday for kids, teens and adults, with cash prizes available for the top creators. Some of the best costumes included a family dressed as characters from the Spy x Family anime and a woman dressed as Jinx from the popular video game League of Legends.
One of the biggest attractions at this year’s convention was a hand-made, life-size model of an AT-ST from the Star Wars movies. Johnny Dominguez of JD Props and Cosplay brought the model from Hondo and he said it takes two hours to set up the prop.
Artists and creators from around Texas and outside the state were invited to Del Rio Comic-Con. One of the returning guest vendors was Philip Salazar from Temple, who is a cover artist doing pieces involving popular licenses from movies, comics and games through companies including IDW Publishing and Dark Horse Comics.
Local artists and businesses were part of the convention, both returning and newcomers. Kassandra Alfaro, known professionally as Kolorful Kas, was one of the returning local vendors with her booth where she applied tattoos in person.
The youngest vendor at the convention was Rayne Terrazas, who is 11 years old and had a booth selling croc charms.
In addition, the convention welcomed vendors who sold a variety of collectibles including toys, props and art, handmade wares, items for Furries, and nostalgic items from days gone by. Mancha said the convention would welcome 65 different vendors for the September event.
In addition, food vendors, such as Primos BBQ and Cardenas Funnel Cakes set up outside the civic center and provided welcome nourishment and tasty treats for visitors and vendors.
