GA Mountain Charity Comic Con 2025
The deets
Where: Jasper, GA
When: October 31 - November 1
Table Cost: $0 (we were invited as featured guests so our table was free, artist alley tables are regularly $125)
Attendance: estimated less than 500
The space
The event was held at the Chattahoochee Tech Conference Center which was pretty much perfect for the size of the event. Aisles between rows were reasonable and they left plenty of room between tables and between rows. We were originally put towards the back where the drink kegs were which meant we were in a darker lit space behind a massive Tardis which hid our whole booth from incoming foot traffic. There were some no-shows/cancellations from other vendors, so the staff kindly let us and the comic artist next to us move to the center of the loop of vendor and artist tables which gave us much better visibility for Saturday. We were provided a 6-foot table and two chairs originally, but were able to make use of a second table after being moved into the new space.
The market
Despite the website listing separate prices for artist alley tables and vendor booths, there was no actual separation of artists and vendors. We would actually like to see this convention only have one price for tables in the future until they grow in size enough to justify having different sized spaces. There was a good mix of artists and vendors, some comic and POP figure resellers, 1-2 folks with 3D printed goods, and a surprising number of author tables and miscellaneous crafted things like painted bottles, hand-made wooden bookmarks, soaps, and croqueted items. There were half a dozen or so artists selling their own comic books and prints, including us.
The audience
This was the first time this event had been run, so another con that was a bit of a gamble as far as what kind of attendance to expect especially with it being during Halloween in a fairly rural area. That said, while attendance was pretty low on Friday (enough so that the event ended a few hours early due to main street being shut down for the trick-or-treaters) attendees were very pleasant. We saw mostly families with young kids, which was a bit surprising as the event staff disclosed having tried to advertise to the college aged crowd. Things picked up a lot more Saturday, which was great and really helped boost the mood amongst all the artists and vendors. Not many folks ended up attending the panels on Saturday, though that wasn’t necessarily unexpected. The costume contest did get a dozen or so participants and was very cute to watch. Most attendees seemed to be locals or from further north towards Tennessee.
The sales
We were invited as featured guests, so we had no table cost. Had we paid for our table, we would have made 3.5x table cost.
For this 2-day con our time invested amounted to 16 hours of active vending and 2 hours of combined set-up and break-down time (total of 18 hours).
Items that sold the best were acrylic charms, prints, and stickers. Most people paid with cash rather than card, and our bigger ticket items didn’t sell at all besides a few of the journals, but we did have one person pay with card who bought several prints, lanyards, and charms. We did a few merch trades with other vendors at the end of the event.
The rest
This was a charity event benefiting the local library and the event organizers really went above and beyond to make the event as accessible for attendees as possible. The entry fee was very affordable for the size of the event, and the event staff gave out gold medallions that could be given to vendors as a $5 credit towards their purchase which the event staff would then reimburse the vendors for. This was a very cute system and a great incentive.
These event organizers are clearly massive fans of events like pop-culture conventions. They treated vendors so incredibly well, being very accommodating, willing to listen to feedback, and quick to pivot as needed. The love and care they put into making the event as successful as they could with the resources and hands they had was just so incredible. These are people who are not running this event to make money, they run this event for the love of it and for the success of the vendors and support of their community.
We are so honored to have been invited to be a part of this inaugural event and we hope to continue to participate in more charity events they run in the coming years.
Pros
Large booth spaces each with one 6’ table and two chairs
Easy load in and load out through a cargo bay so no stairs/elevators to worry about for carts and wagons
Break room with snacks and drinks for the vendors in a separate area
Classroom for programming with 45 person capacity, computer and overhead projector
Free parking
Food vendors on-site
Event staff were very friendly and accommodating
Cons
Currently overlaps with DreamHack in Atlanta
Town is a bit on the remote side, but not too bad if coming from Chattanooga or the north side of Atlanta
Main road was closed for trick-or-treating on Friday night, so the event wrapped up early due to low attendance