G-fest Xiv

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A Different Kind Of Religion
A Different Kind Of God

G-Fest XIV (North American Godzilla Convention)
Friday July 6, 11:00am-Sunday July 8, 4:00pm
The Crowne Plaza O’Hare
Rosemont, Illinois

The Religion

In 2006, many members may remember that I attended my first convention at G-Fest. Last year amongst all the people wearing Godzilla T-Shirts, there was another group of people sharing the same hotel. These people were dressed in black suits and conservative dresses. I later learned that there was a Baptist choir convention in town the same weekend which made me wonder what a strange contrasting assembly of people. This year I was convinced that there really was no difference. G-Fest is a real event, a prideful movement and an honest-to-goodness religion. Children, teens, adults and the elderly all attend G-Fest to gather together to share their love and passion for the giant-monster genre.

History Of The Convention

G-Fest is an annual convention held in the summer for The Godzilla Society Of North American fans and other Daikaiju films. It has prominently been held near Chicago and attracts about 1500 attendees yearly. J.D. Lees is the editor and publisher of G-Fan magazine which is a quarterly publication with interviews, movie profiles, reviews, fan fiction and related movie articles that spans the history, present and future of the giant monster genre. Mr. Lees and other members organize the G-Fest Con every year. Special seminars, Q &A sessions, model, art and costume contests and panels, toy dealers as well as special guest stars fill this friendly family orientated weekend. If one has never been to a convention before, I highly recommend that if you are a fan to try a G-Fest convention first, you will not be disappointed. Each convention has a theme and this year’s theme was “Godzilla vs. King Kong”. Friday and Saturday evening after the day’s events, convention-goers have the opportunity to watch a kaiju film on the silver screen at the Pickwick Theater located 15 minutes from the hotel. This year’s films included the 1967 Japanese Classic “King Kong Escapes” which played Friday night and the ever popular battle-of-the-century “Godzilla vs. King Kong” which ran on Saturday night.

Special Guests

This year’s special guests included Rhodes Reason (who played Commander Carl Nelson in “King Kong Escapes”), Canadian actress Shelly Sweeney who has appeared in several Toho Godzilla films and Robert Scott Field an actor who starred in Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah also Carl Craig who played boy scout, Jim Morgan in Gamera vs. Viras and Don Glut who was honored this year with The Mangled Skyscraper Award a trophy given to individuals who have gone above and beyond and have dedicated their talents and time to further the genre.



(from left to right: Don Glut, Carl Craig, J.D. Lees, Rhodes Reason, Robert Scott Field, Shelly Sweeney)

The Drive

This year mrscardero and I drove out to Chicago in the late evening or early morning to avoid traffic. The year’s festival was very close to the Fourth Of July holiday and we left on Wednesday evening right after mrscardero was done with her afternoon shift at Spring Valley tolls. She slept in the car and I took the first 6 hours of a 13 hour trip from Upstate Modena New York. Next year we are considering flying.

Friday, July 6 2007

One of the most joyous traditions of attending G-Fest is getting to the Registration line bright and early at 11:00 am and receiving our registration packages. Each package includes out identification pins (we are always pre-registered) the convention program booklet and other assortment of announcements and valuable tickets. This year we decided to attend the Awards Luncheon which is held Sunday at 1:00pm. We sat at the café and over hot coffee and a T.J. Cinnamon bun, we planned our weekend activities. Friday is a very slow day for convention goers. Most seminars do not open till 2:00 pm but we did manage to catch one.

3:00pm-5:00pm

Robert Scott Field’s “The Japan Droid” which offered the latest pop-culture happenings in Japan. Mr. Field spends most of his time in Japan and is ready to answer all our cogent questions.

5:00pm-7:00pm

I treated mrscardero to a nice meal at the hotel’s Rickenbacker’s Bar and Grille because last year we did not get a chance to have a nice dinner together and due to the long and extensive activities we were forced to eat sandwiches and pizza all weekend. To contrast these bad eating habits from last year I ordered the “Big Salad” and mrscardero ordered the Stuffed Salmon. And for dessert……

7:00pm-9:00pm- The Dealer’s Room!!!!!

Hungry fans eagerly hang out in the hall awaiting the memorial opening of the dealer room doors to the public as early as 5:00pm (doors open at 7:00pm)!!! There is even a raffle that supervisors hold to allow a few lucky members the chance to go in a half an hour earlier before anyone else to peruse all the rare Godzilla merchandise that dealers from all over the United States have put out to commemorate this special weekend. Most of these toys and wares cannot be purchased in most local toy stores and some conventioneers save every year to bring back that exclusive 3-foot high Godzilla statue.

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11:00am-12:00pm Candy Toy Crazy!! Hosted by Stan Hyde

This session was hosted by a hobbyist and kaiju modeler by the name of Stan Hyde. He performed this session every year because he always kept his finger on the pulse of these collectibles. The Candy Toys are small character diorama figurines that come in a box with a trading card and a package of sweet tarts. These “toys” are ready to assemble and resemble actual scenes from the kaiju movies. Hand sculpted and painted these finely detailed statues are quite popular in Japan and in the United States. Mrscardero started collected these sets last year and was interested in keeping up with the latest developments and releases.

1:00pm-2:30pm The Awards Luncheon

For an additional charge one can attend the Awards Ceremony and receive a hearty lunch and get a run down on the winners of the weekend’s festivities. It is also at this time that they award The Mangled Skyscraper Award to the person who has given back to the genre. We didn’t win the costume parade but we were pleased with the contestants who did. There were raffles and free giveaways and we had the opportunity to talk with staff members and to meet new people. One person who sat at our table came from Wisconsin and this convention was a birthday gift from his wife. Another couple came from Maine and I noticed the man wearing a Mystery Science Theater T-shirt and that was all I needed to engage conversation.

2:30pm-3:15pm Departure
One last trip to the Dealer’s Room and then we called it a weekend. We had a long trip home and it took us at least an hour and a half just to get out of Chicago because of the traffic. There is a hour difference between Chicago and New York and a 13 hour trip was going to take 14 hours or more. We got home the next morning at 6:30am absolutely exhausted.

CONCLUSION

We were not as fortunate this year as we were at last year’s convention. Mrscardero and I won the “clear the table” raffle last year and came in first place in the Art Contest but we still had a good time, met new friends and still looked forward to the next time we would go. Upon visiting Godzilla Internet Forum boards, I got the chance to relive moments of the convention from people posting pictures and sharing their experiences and I also learned about PCD (post-convention-depression) which mrscardero suffers from more than I do. To remedy this, I watch my Godzilla movie library and read past issues of G-Fan magazine (the current Bible on all matters kaiju), all the while contemplating our next trip to G-Fest and cherishing the memories we have already accumulated.