A Youth Cosplay Contest was held at the sixth annual Parkersburg Pop Con held Saturday at West Virginia University at Parkersburg. The winners (left to right) were Gabe Byrne of Belpre dressed as Springtrap from Five Nights at Freddy’s (first place), Parker Waters of Parkersburg was dressed as Leonidas Valdez from the Heroes of Olympus series written by Rick Riordan (second place) and Logan Smith of Mineral Wells dressed as the ventriloquist with Slappy the Dummy from the Goosebumps series of novels by R.L. Stine (third place). (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — It was a celebration of all things pop culture Saturday at the sixth annual Parkersburg Pop Con at West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

The event was a family-friendly celebration of pop culture, including movies, television, comic books and video games.

“This is an annual event that celebrates everything pop culture,” said Jackie Bennett, IT manager at WVUP and Pop Con chair. “We have everything from artists to comic book vendors, cosplaying and everything for everybody. It is a fun day that is very family friendly.”

Twenty-three vendors participated in the event that included an Artist Alley, a gaming area and other activities.

Parkersburg Pop Con raised money for the Nancy Rauch Harris Memorial Scholarship. Harris, who recently passed away, was a beloved figure renowned for her dedication to students and roles as Career Services executive director and chair of the DEI Committee at WVUP.

Gordon Briggs of Athens appeared at the Parkersburg Pop Con Saturday at West Virginia University at Parkersburg dressed as the Marvel Comics character Ronan the Accuser. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“We really want her name to live on, because we miss her like crazy,” Bennett said.

Gordon and Sarah West of Glenville were looking for comics and new miniatures. Traveling more than an hour, this was their third time at the event.

“We like doing stuff like this and seeing what we can find,” Gordon said.

“And cosplay. It is always fun to cosplay,” Sarah added.

Gordon was dressed as horror icon Freddy Kruger and Sarah was dressed as an Elfling Fairy. Both were happy to see so many people having a good time and enjoying themselves.

Sarah and Gordon West of Glenville were looking for comics and new miniatures at the Parkersburg Pop Con held Saturday at West Virginia University at Parkersburg. This was their third time to the event, traveling more than an hour to get here. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“An event like this is always a good thing,” Sarah said. “It brings multiple ages of people out and it gives them something to do that is good.

“The ones who do the costume contest make their own costumes. It gives them something to do with their creativity.’

Parker Waters of Parkersburg was a first-time visitor to the Pop Con and participated in the Youth Cosplay contest during the event. Waters played Leonidas Valdez from the Heroes of Olympus series written by Rick Riordan.

“I am wearing this cosplay for the first time,” Waters said. “I felt today was the perfect occasion to debut it to the masses.”

Waters has worked on cosplay costumes in the past and felt this event was a good chance to show off some new design work.

The sixth annual Parkersburg Pop Con was held Saturday at West Virginia University at Parkersburg. The event was a family-friendly celebration of all things pop culture, including movies, television, comic books and video games. The event included many opportunities for cosplayers to show off their work on individual costumes. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“I love having local cosplay events because it is a chance to show off to the community you actually live in these skills you possess and other such things,” Waters said.

Gabe Byrne of Belpre dressed as Springtrap from “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” He was told by Waters about the event and he rushed earlier in the day to get more pieces together for a more complete costume.

He had previously gone to the Classic Plastics Toy Expo at the Parkersburg Arts Center earlier this year when he only had the headpiece done.

Byrne and his family just got the costume together with additional pieces before arriving at the event on Saturday.

He enjoyed the chance to have fun.

“It seemed like it would be fun,” Byrne said. “It is cool. There aren’t too many events like this. It is pretty nice.”

Vendor Andy Alvarez of Andy’s Toy Chest in Marietta has come to the event for 4-5 years. It sells toys, collectibles and items related to film and comic books.

“Things have been going great,” Alvarez said. “We always have a good time here.”

He said the crowds were good throughout the day.

Alvarez said events like this bring together a wide variety of people with interests in a variety of different fandoms across all genres to a place where they can really enjoy themselves.

“It is great seeing people,” he said. “It brings like minded people together. You start going to shows and you start making friends.”

Bennett hoped people had a good time on Saturday.

“I hope people get to experience a lot of our local vendors and experience the local art from a lot of untapped sources,” she said. “There are so many interesting and unique opportunities they can have here.”

The costume contests feature a lot of people who make their own costumes and who utilize a variety of different skills to put their costumes together.

“We love to celebrate the creativity in the costume contests,” Bennett said. “We have a lot of skilled craftsmen that I don’t think a lot of people know about. It is really amazing when we do these cosplay contests that we actually get to show how talented our local folks are. We love to celebrate and encourage them.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com.