We stayed open after hours for another fabulous SSC Library UnMasked event on July 15, 2016. Entertaining an all-ages cosplay crowd is a big undertaking during busy summer scheduling, but it is
TOTALLY WORTH IT!
The event began just after 6 p.m. with a line of cosplayers rolling onto the sidewalk! It's a joy to see the fruits of your labor pay off with an excited crew ready to UnMask the Library.
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| First 50 in the Door |
Our registration table had free raffle tickets for all attendees to enter for prizes. Comic magnets and special raffle tickets were offered to the First 50 in the Door.
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| Welcome to SSC Library UnMasked 2016 |
Rounding the library, attendees found FREE COMIC BOOKS
leftover from Free Comic Book Day.
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| Free Comic Books for All |
We had a button making station with lots of glossy images to make permanent mementos.
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| Make a Button with Danielle and Bethany |
If you brought your appetite, Super Hero Stew would fill your hungry tummy.
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| Kacey serving the Super Hero Stew |
There was a Super Smash Bros. video game tournament. The competition for a $20 Game Stop gift card was tough. Luckily we had a runner-up prize of $10 to Dippity Do Dahs Homemade Ice Cream Shop.
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| Super Smash Bros. |
Many businesses and local artists donated their goods and services to this event and we are indebted to their generosity. Great Escapes Adventures was on hand to play board games available in their shop in the Arnot Mall. One lucky raffle winner will get to experience an Escape Room game in the near future.
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| Can you find the key to leave an Escape Room? |
Joey Schichtel returned with his talent and photo booth for all to enjoy. He donated 2 framed prints and an exclusive Harley Quinn comic book cover to our raffle prizes--
wish I could have won!
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| Joey Schichtel |
Maegan McKenzie designed coloring sheets with background settings. Everyone was welcome to draw their own super hero character to be added into a coloring book.
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| Maegan McKenzie |
Emily Swan brought her talent with Paper Bag Super Hero Puppets.
Ed Bond showed off his Metacheckers game. He raffled one game as a prize, but also donated one game to the library in-house board game collection. I challenge you to a duel!
We had an outta-control obstacle course.
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| Emily Swan and Co. |
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| Ed Bond with Metacheckers |
You had to capture our villain robot named Ramsey.
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| Obstacle Course |
Hungry (human) Hippos gave way to more excitement.
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| Human Hippos |
The evening rounded out with the highly anticipated Cosplay contest. For clarification of the word cosplay, it is costume play. A fun activity for kids of all ages. 11th Hour Cosplay brought their knowledge and experience with cosplay costumes to the competition.
They had the honor of considering winners for four categories: Novice, Journeyman, Master, and Group. Each winner scored a weekend pass to Twin Tiers Comic Con in Elmira, New York on August 13 & 14, 2016!
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| Cosplay Contest |
With stories and anecdotes behind each costume, 11th Hour Cosplay narrowed their decisions to these final winners:
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| Cowboy as Novice |
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| Soul Eater Evans as Journeyman |
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| Glados from Portal as Master |
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| Robin and Batman (or is that The Joker?) as Group |
We even had a surprise category of O.C., original character. One of my First Friday Art Club students won this award for her creation made in our Cosplay Costumes event.
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| Best Original Character |
There were so many wonderful efforts in competition. The decisions were tough! Congratulations to our winners, but extra special thanks to all who participated. I feel events like this are more fun to meet new friends with similar interests than winning prizes.
It's difficult to list all costumes in entirety. So much variety to enjoy all evening.
SSC Library UnMasked ended with over $600 in prizes offered to lucky winners whose names were drawn from our registration collection.
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| P R I Z E S ! ! ! |
We are grateful to our program sponsors who provided
free or discounted opportunities and art work.
- Heroes Comic Shop hooked us up with 2- $25 gift certificates, plus magnet door prizes
- Denny's Submarine Shop provided a certifiicate for 2 subs and 2 shakes
- Park Avenue Sports Center gave 5 free passes for mini-golf
- Dippity Do Dahs Homemade Ice Cream Shop sent a $10 gift card + 6 scoop credits
- Filomena Jack sold us a Dr. Zoidberg original painting
- Joey Schichtel gave us 2 framed prints and an original comic book
- Laura Charles provided 2 original prints
- Twin Tiers Comic Con gifted 4 passes for the 4 we bought for the Cosplay Contest.
- McDonald's Restaurant provided free small ice cream cards
- The grand prize was a Kindle Fire with $10 gift card, power cord, and screen protector
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| Prize Giveaway |
The event finished at 8 p.m. once all prizes were collected and many families had their fill of thrills. With 16 volunteers and library workers on hand, the building was back to business as usual within an hour. As I locked the doors for the night, I felt relief that it all went off without a hitch. I extend my gratitude to everyone who supported the Library UnMasked efforts. Our community is rich with generosity!
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| Join Us Next Time |
If you missed it this year, be sure to join us next time. It just keeps getting better!
Thanks for visiting :)
~erica
