Supernatural Celebrates 100th Creation Convention in New Jersey!

 

Happy 100th Con Supernatural! Part Two of my NJ/NYC adventures (you can also read about EW’s sneak peek Season 14 premiere party and Jensen and Jared on Live with Kelly and Ryan in Part One here)

EW Supernatural Season 14 Sneak Peek and Jared and Jensen on Live!

The Supernatural New Jersey con is the closest I get to a “home” con – a less than two hour drive from Philly. The key word there being “drive” – as in, no airfare! Woohoo!! I packed up my car with many boxes of books and headed out on Thursday up the NJ Turnpike to scenic Secaucus, happy not to have to deal with airport and parking and TSA. Apparently I got a bit too cocky though, because no sooner had I arrived at the vendor section of the gigantic Meadowlands convention center than I realized that I hadn’t brought my usual backpack for flights to cons – so I had only part of what I needed for my vendor table!

NOOOOO! Luckily the convention center is adjacent to a giant Walmart, so I trekked over and had my promo pics reprinted, then trekked back to finish setting up. (My friends and I returned to Walmart later that night to stock up on supplies for the con weekend, which included an alarming amount of Beefaroni and ramen noodles,  bags of chips and possibly some Lunchables but hey, con weekend!)  We love Embassy Suites with their mini kitchens in the room and free breakfast buffet every morning – between that and the Walmart, we were set. And it’s a good thing, since I was on my own in the vendor room – luckily fandom is always wonderful and generous, with fellow fans offering to grab me drinks and pretzels or time for a bathroom break.

This con was special because it was the 100th Creation Supernatural convention – also christened Schmelke Con for the one person who has been at all 100 and taken over 250,000 photo ops to prove it — the one and only Chris Schmelke! There’s no overestimating the difference Chris has made to these conventions – photo ops are a special thing and nobody knows how to make them more special than Chris. We interviewed Chris for one of our first books, Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls, and it was immediately obvious that he truly cares about fans’ experience – he gets it. And so he does everything necessary to make sure those few moments allow a genuine connection. Chris will be the first one to say that Supernatural conventions are unlike any other, and in part that’s because these actors also go out of their way to make the photo ops special.

There were all sorts of special decorations celebrating the 100th con and Creation even handed out bracelets to commemorate the occasion, so it was very cool to be there!

Nothing says happy 100th like this!

Richard introduced Friday’s first guest panelist, Rachel Miner, by giving her well deserved props for her work with Random Acts. She was asked about her initial reaction to her character Meg, and said that she got to read her audition scene with Jared and Jensen. Eric Kripke was there too, and they both ended up laughing; she knew right away that she loved the character.

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The Saturday Night Special, Pittsburgh!

Guest post by Kim Prior (and photos too)…

 Ok, full disclosure… I am Friday People, because Friday at cons are fun and relaxing and I actually have time for food. And I’m there for Saturdays, for panels and ops and occasionally meet&greets. And yes, oh most definitely yes, I am a Sunday girl, because Jensen… and Jared… and ops and autographs, and did I mention Jensen?

But make no mistake, do not misunderstand – I am 1000% percent an SNS!Girl. Stephen hidden in the corner on the stage presents a challenge for me in terms of photography, and tbh, I love the challenge. I mostly fail, but by chuck I’m determined. And Borja off to the side, without a lot of facial expression but oozing emotion all the same, and that’s just fun to watch.

Sigh. And then there’s Billy. On the other side of the stage. Focused. Intense. Having fun. Loving every single second of the music and the stage and the crowd. High intensity jamming, or softer, slower, emotional fingering of the strings during the super-charged ballads. Listen, I don’t read fanfic, but for the love of chuck is there fic about Billy the Guitar-Playing-Rock-God? Hashtag allthegasms right here.

I started to write ‘another sigh’ or ‘big sigh’ but no, no, no sighs. All smiles. Because then there’s Rob, center stage, right where he belongs. Overflowing with excitement. Jammin. Singin. Bringing us to our feet one minute, and bringing us to our knees the next. Telling us that he loves us, and then soaking up our love for him. He is so fun to watch, so fun to photograph, and full disclosure…

I am SNS People. I am here to be blown away time after time after time by the show and the lights and the guests and the music – their music. I am 110% a LoudenSwain!Girl and yes, I am 2000% a Rob!Girl.

That said, I’ll just get right into the show highlights, m’kay?

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