Thousands flock to Monroe Pop Fest for weekend-long entertainment

Gary Baker could not believe his luck.

A self-professed "full-on geek," Baker grabbed a seat front and center during the Power Rangers guest panel at this year's Monroe Pop Fest. Last year, those seats had been reserved for people who paid for VIP tickets, Baker said, so he never expected to sit so close to his idols.

Decked out in his bright blue ranger shirt, Baker could barely contain his excitement as he fired off question after question toward the three actors at the front of the room.

Once upon a time, actors Kevin Duhaney, Jeffrey Parazzo and Jessica Rey all had made a living battling the forces of evil on the small screen. Duhaney and Parazzo worked together on the 2004 series "Power Rangers Dino Thunder" and Rey preceded them on 2002's "Power Rangers Wild Force."

Baker said he grew up on the show and thanks to DVDs and streaming services, he's been able to watch most of the 30-plus iterations of the popular franchise to date. "Mighty Morphin," "Zeo," "Turbo," "Lost Galaxy," "Lightspeed Rescue," "Time Force," "Ninja Storm" and "Dino Thunder" are some of his favorites.

"This was amazing," Baker said. "I've been a Power Rangers fan for 30 years. They're my heroes, and I'll love them until the day I die."

It was the second time that Baker made the trip from his home in Farmington Hills to attend the Monroe Pop Fest, which also featured a Power Rangers panel last year. That was just one of the many events sprinkled throughout the weekend of this year's 11th annual convention.

Over 3,000 people attended this year's event held Sept. 15-16 at the First Merchants Bank Expo Center at the Monroe County Fairgrounds. It was one of the most successful weekends in the event's history, said Gary Pillette, who co-owns and operates the convention along with his wife, Dawn.

"It was one of the best years we've ever had," Pillette said. "It was a good crowd. They seemed to stay a long time. We had a lot of events for them to incorporate into their day and they were able to stick around, enjoy themselves, eat food, watch panels, go play in the gaming area and check out the outside events."

Attendees also had access to more than 30 celebrity guests spanning the full range of pop culture fandom. That included actors, artists, graphic novelists, animators, podcasters, authors, pro wrestlers and more. Former Detroit Red Wing Darren McCarty also was on hand to interact with fans.

"This is a great opportunity for us to meet fans and meet the people who enjoy the stuff that we put out," said artist Bill Morrison. "When you're an artist, you tend to work in solitude and a lot of times what you do put out there, what gets printed and published, you don't get a lot of feedback."

Morrison is famous for his work as an illustrator and writer on the TV show "The Simpsons." He also was an illustrator for Disney, was an executive editor for Mad Magazine and co-founded his own comic book company.

It was his third time to the Monroe Pop Fest, which is just a short drive from his home in St. Clair Shores. He grew up in Lincoln Park before venturing onto his career in California. In addition to his work as a freelance artist, Morrison said he now travels to conventions all across Michigan. He also will make appearances at shows later his year in Mexico and Europe.

"Hometown shows are a lot of fun," Morrison said. "Growing up in Lincoln Park, Monroe is a place I visited. My sister lives here, I have friends here, I know the people. That makes it special."

The large crowd inside the convention center thinned out briefly Saturday for the Pop Fest's annual cosplay contest with separate divisions for kids and adults.

Southgate resident Eli Ingram took home the top prize for the second straight year. Last year, Ingram won for his appearance as a yellow space marine from the popular tabletop game Warhammer 40,000. He stayed in that same universe for this year's winner, too, crafting an intricate tech priest costume.

It took him about three months to put the design together, Ingram said. The costume features a red robe hemmed with silver and chains, a 5-foot axe, four mechanical spider-like legs, and a full mask complete with LED lights, voice speaker, and cooling fans.

"I bent an insurmountable amount of foam to my will to make it look like what I wanted it to look like," he said. "The majority of it is foam with some wood and a few 3-D printed bits. … There's some plastic bits and PVC that's holding the leg structure.

"The backpack is all foam and holds the electronics. There's like eight battery packs in here and that adds quite a bit of weight."

Ingram also spent three months on a cosplay for his fiancee, Melissa Acord, though it took him until the night before the competition to add on the finishing touches. She was dressed as a Warhammer 40K battle sister.

The pair attend multiple conventions every year. Ingram said his tech priest design also won cosplay contests this summer at Fantasticon Toledo and Astronomicon in Livonia.

But Monroe is one of his favorites.

"I really like this convention because it has a hometown street fair kind of feel with the food trucks and vendors outside," Ingram said. "I like that it's partially outside. You don't have to be inside all the time and you don't have to stay outside. It's quaint, better people, less crowded."

That's been the goal, Pillette said, to create a convention that finds its niche for the local community to enjoy without sacrificing on quality.

"We've tried to add more and more every year," Pillette said. "Every year we're getting better and fine tuning everything."

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Thousands flock to Monroe Pop Fest for weekend-long entertainment