TimminsCon, a Northern Ontario Expo event, is on this weekend
Setup for the 14th annual TimminsCon at the McIntyre Community Centre was well underway Friday.
The Fandom Comic Con-style event has grown from a small 200-person comic book convention to a two-day event bringing in thousands from around the province, Quebec and the United States.
It’s why several local and out-of-town vendors said it is worth it to set up shop here for the weekend.
“We have a giant booth and we get to, like, bring almost all of our store here,” said Kieron Goguen of Comic Alley Toys, located in Oshawa.
“All people in Timmins will love the rock ‘n’ roll stuff. People in Timmins will love the, like, gory horror stuff.”
“It's very welcoming over here,” said Victoria McLenon of Comic Alley Toys in Oshawa.
TimminsCon’s special guest this year is Brandon Routh who played Superman in the 2006 film Superman Returns. (Lydia Chubak/CTV News)
“In Oshawa it's sort of busy, everyone's in a rush, no one really wants to talk to anybody. But when you're in Timmins, it's more so relaxed. It's almost cottage pace up here for us because we're used to the city, right?”
TimminsCon’s special guest this year is Brandon Routh, an American actor who played Superman in the 2006 film, ‘Superman Returns.’
“We also have, you know, our second annual TimminsCon Family Feud, which was a huge hit last year,” said Jason Denis, founder of Northern Ontario Expo, which hosts TimminsCon.
“We also have a new Mario Kart track for the young kids to drive around … our good friends from the GTA, the Star Wars group, the 501st -- they're back with two new displays this year.”
Denis said he’s grateful for all the support from volunteers and for the $40,000 from the Municipal Accommodation Tax Fund to help put the show on.
“So growing up, I was one of those people saying there was never anything to do in Timmins,” said Denis.
“Well, now I'm trying to do something to change that mindset.”
TimminsCon runs Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Northern Ontario Expo website has all the details, including admission fees.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.