Mericon 2023 - Maiden voyage of a harbor town con

This is also one of the summaries that are so late that it's literally ridiculous but it can't be helped at this point anymore. 

 Mericon, a new small cosplay event was held on 5th of August at Rauma's main library. Since Rauma probably isn't the most familiar town for many of you, let me introduce its history a bit because the event's name (which would be Seacon in English) is heavily linked to it. If you're not up to the history lesson, skip a bit forward and continue reading.

Like the title of this post tells you, Rauma is a harbor town and has actually been since the 15th century. Back then it was mostly merchant ships visiting Rauma but things were about to change; in 19th century Rauma was already known of its own merchant shipping companies. For a few years (1892-1898) Rauma actually had the largest sailing fleet in Finland - in 1895 57 vessels belonged to it! However, in 1898 the sailing ship fleet of Helsinki outgrew the one of Rauma's - and it didn't take too long for the ships to disappear from Rauma, one by one. The last sailing ship built in Rauma was the barquentine called Uljas and she sailed for a good 50 years, from 1891 to 1941. She stayed in the ship register until her fate was decided; Uljas was ceremoniously burnt and sank in 1950.
Even though the times have changed, seafaring is still an important thing to Rauma. Cargo ships come and go at the harbor, new ships are being built (at the time Rauma Marine Constructions, also known as the local shipyard is building four Squadron 2020 corvettes for the Finnish Defence Forces) and there's also a restaurant ship at Poroholma's tall ship harbor! Or, well, at least at the time; the ship in question (galeas Marita) is not in a good shape anymore and there have been rumors the she would be sunk in the coming years. There was also another ship at that harbor, brig Gerda Gefle (she was a copy of the original brig Gerda that got destroyed in 1959) but the fate was cruel on her; in September 2023 shit happened and the ship half sunk at the dock it was anchored at. By the time I´m writing this post she has already been dismantled. However, she was a sight to behold and, luckily, we managed to take some promotion pictures for Mericon on her deck! 

Gerda Gefle in June 2023. Picture taken by yours truly (you can also find this pic on Mericon's web site but yeah, I took this one).

The pirate captain, also known as my colleague Katriina on Gerda's deck. The farther tall ship in the background is galeas Marita. Picture taken by yours truly.

If you want more information about Rauma's history as a harbor town, check Majakka (from where I also searched for the history info) - it's an info site held by Rauma Maritime Museum!

But yeah, back to the con summary - and to the question what part do I play with organizing Mericon. And to this question the answer is simple: at the time I studied to become a librarian (graduated in December) and worked at Rauma's main library where I decided to test the waters and suggested holding a cosplay event at the library when we were brainstorming what kind of events we should hold in 2023. It was an immediate green light and so Mericon came to exist!
I also had to pass the event organizing course at school so yeah, totally took this opportunity to be one of the organizers behind this event! Since I was the one with most experience with cosplay and cosplay events I got pretty much responsibilities but, to be honest, I enjoyed every minute behind the scenes even though it was a bit stressing at times. The organizing actually begun in February and that meant we had six months to get everything ready. Plenty of time!

I didn't do everything by myself though; my colleagues and boss were so sweet and supportive - they helped whenever they could with whatever they could!
Buuuut there was one task none of us could do and that was painting the info signs. It didn't take long to figure out who I wanted to help me with this task and after a few emails and meetings Shiro Samurai joined the team! He was also in charge of photographing the event and cosplay contestants this year (and he was also one of the cosplay contest judges) but his main task was to paint the signs which turned out to be wonderful even though he only had a few days to make them. I'm still sorry about the short time span but dude, you did great job with those signs - thank you so much! <3

(The rest of the pics in this post are also taken by Shiro Samurai since my camera begun to act up even more after I had taken the promotion pictures for the con.)

Mericon banner. There were actually two; this one was located near the parking lot.

 

The main entrance of the library. Café Käpälä was also open during the con - they had even developed a pastry menu that fit the theme!

 

The week before the event was quite stressful since there were quite a lot of last minute things to do - Shiro Samurai was painting the signs, I was trying to hold the whole event in one piece (pun not intended omg) and my colleagues helped with decorating the library and whatever task I gave them. At this point I was the one with most intel and lord, anybody who knows me also knows that I forget things very easily so it was a bit stressing to try to keep track of tasks that were still on "to do" list.
The evening before we finally got everything done - well, most of it. Let's just say that if you need to fix the fabric for the photography booth, do yourself a favor and check if your sewing machine is fine AND DOESN'T BREAK DOWN A DAY BEFORE THE CON. The photography booth was one of the greatest disasters of the event (read between the lines: the con actually went pretty well but more of that later) anyway but we sure didn't need an extra rush like that, also known as 1) hearing the sewing machine break, 2) panicking, 3) going through our very few options and 4) eventually speed-driving to my grandma's to borrow her sewing machine...
Also known as I don't have a sewing machine of my own at the moment since those things cost almost my month's salary at the cheapest :))

The con morning came and I was feeling extremely nauseous. I had barely slept during the night - or at least it felt like it - and when Shiro Samurai and I left my apartment I was so ready to call it quits and stay at home. That's how anxious I felt about the event - and it's totally different kind of anxiety as I usually feel before the conventions. No, this one was a lot greater and when we got to the library I was basically unable to do anything for the first 20 minutes until my brains finally sorted themselves out and I begun functioning again. The clock was about 7:20 in the morning at this point and the con started at 11 so luckily there was still time to do the remaining tasks and put on our costumes. I had intended to cosplay lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil 8 but hadn't managed to make the costume in time so I wore my Just Be Friends!Luka again.
The sellers for the Artists' Alley (which was probably the greatest success of the con) arrived at 9; I had asked them if two hours would be enough time to set up their tables and apparently it was since they agreed on it.
Or, well, Nana - who was representing bunicorn_design and whom I have also called Rikari in my past blog posts - arrived a bit earlier so she could help us with the rest of the decorating and all. Thank you so much, my dear friend! <3 

Said friend in question.

The Artists' Alley was located in the newspaper reading room which is quite a lot of bigger than the picture shows. There's also one of the signs Shiro Samurai painted (and signed with his other handle KaamosWolf).

At 10 a.m. I begun to put on my costume since I knew it wouldn't take me ages to get it done - especially because I skipped the contact lenses this time mostly because I didn't manage to find them among all my stuff since I had just moved from Kauttua to Lappi TL so yeah. The final preparations were done... And after that it was time to open the doors.

This is what it looked like a mere minutes before we opened the doors. In the upper picture Maria H. (the info/guide person) dressed as the sea itself and lammasnoita (drawing contest judge and the other hosting the drawing workshop) dressed as Kiki, in the lower picture Katriina (also responsible for the drawing workshop) dressed as Miss Quackfaster.

 

A small con detail - a guest book (that was quite popular once people noticed it)! <3

 

I said the opening words to a few people (including a couple of my school mates back then) who came to listen to them. After the opening... Well, thing - since I can't really call it an opening ceremony - I and one of my colleagues did a Japan related book talk. And, after something like 30 minutes I and Elililyca begun judging the cosplay contestants - to which most of my con day was spent to. Shiro Samurai was also one of the judges with a slightly different job description than usual; he judged the way the contestants related to their characters in front of the camera.

Our book talk may not have been the most interesting thing at the con but hey, we had fun!

I must say that at this point I was feeling pretty anxious. I'm, unfortunately, something of a control freak when it comes to hosting events etc. and this time wasn't any different. Even though I trusted - and still do trust - my former colleagues with all my being, it just felt so hard to try to trust in everything going well. Without a good team hosting this event wouldn't have been even possible - I owe them a huge thank you.
I also must say - if someone is considering hosting an event and reading this - that choosing your team wisely will make it or break it. This time it definitely was "make it"; however, it took a lot of working hours from all of use to make it all possible, to make the event happen. I had no idea what I got myself into when I suggested making an event like this; I had been one of the main organizers of Euran Mangapäivä in 2017 and 2018 but it was nothing like this. I'm thankful of the experience and will be one of the people behind this event in 2024 too but, seriously, be prepared if you consider making an event, be it a con or literally anything.

We also had a PS4! Can't really call our glass cube a gaming room but well, we worked with what we had and it seemingly worked well; there was always someone gaming when I passed it!

The hallway leading to the glass cube...

...and how it looked inside. The NHL game was among the most popular ones during the day. All the games were suitable for kids too!

We pretty much had the whole library at our use. Next time we may need to reconsider how to use the space we have but hey, you can only learn by doing. Also: loving the detailed signs.

Well, we obviously had a drawing workshop and contest, cosplay contest, opening... Thing and book talk since I've mentioned them before in this post. But we also had some other programs - and actually two including dancing! A couple of members of Idol Master dance cover group Andromed@ hosted a show called Andromed@ Duo: Special Live and a wonderful local k-pop dance group Opia Dance Crew hosted a K-pop Random Dance. There are a few things I would do differently after the event - and will do this year in case dancers want to come - but both shows went well as far as I know, even though there were minor difficulties with certain things.

Andromed@ Duo: Special Live by Andromed@. The stage worked well for cosplay contest but for dancing? Never again.

K-pop Random Dance hosted by Opia Dance Crew. The paintings in the background were made by Pentti Peura and not harmed during the program - even though they made hosting it a bit difficult since they took pretty much space in the lobby. However, the lobby worked better than the other area originally planned for the program.

 

We also had a couple of panels/lectures/games too! Mirko hosted a "Smash or Pass" anime character game (which was safe for work even though the name suggests a bit otherwise - I didn't have a chance to participate but I confirmed this from the host) and I talked about my cosplay experiences that I've gathered during all these years I've cosplayed.

Mirko's program that was actually so popular people didn't even fit into the room in the end!

My lecture about the cosplay memories. Not as popular but well, it was meant to be a filler anyway since it was very hard to get people to host programs.

The drawing workshop/contest - there was always someone drawing.

 

(At this point I notice that I really don't have so much more to say about the con itself since I didn't have the time to just roam around and check everything. If you want to know more about what the con had to offer, check out Shiro Samurai's Mericon summary. I will, however, tell about the cosplay contest and then some more things about actually organizing the whole thing. Want to read a summary in Finnish? Here´s one by FreakyAngel!)

So... Uh.
After the judging of the cosplay contestants was over I... Literally have no idea what I did. Likely just asked the team how it was going (all good - and if there were any problems they had been solved already so no panic) and after that it was already time for the contest itself! I was the one to take the mic and do the speaking since, well, nobody else wanted to do that (or at least didn't volunteer) and speaking is a big part of my job anyway. I had made the first plans and rules for the contest and Elililyca helped me make them even more rational, still thankful for that! <3

Mericon's cosplay contest rules differed a bit from the usual; for example it was allowed to compete with a bought costume as long as at least something was made by the contestant - this also counted props, styling wigs etc. Otherwise it was a very simple cosplay contest; the contestants walked to the stage, did a couple of poses and walked away. Doesn't really get any simpler. 

I guess this was taken in the beginning of the contest. As you can see, many people wanted to see it - there is even more crowd outside the frame!

Our wonderful contestants <3 Elililyca in the background - still very thankful for her help in both planning and judging! ;__;

After the contest (and before announcing the winners) Elililyca and I decided to eat something - and bought some snacks from Café Käpälä that was also open during the event. The café is located in the library's lobby and it's hosted by young adults and their supervisors. The young ones have for some reason or another dropped out of work/school life and trying to get back there and the supervisors help them with it. They had baked tasty event-themed pastries and everything - it was so nice to see that they wanted to be a part of this too! <3
We ate our snacks (I have no idea where Shiro Samurai was at this point but I assume that probably photographing or at Artists' Alley) and chilled for a while... And in no time it was time to tell the winners of the cosplay and drawing contests!

About the contest and the prizes.
Since the library event budget is not that great we couldn't afford to have expensive materials, such as worbla or stuff like that as the prize. However I think our prizes were still pretty good! I had ordered trophies from Laatupalkinto ; I found three perfect ones for our use! The one who placed 3rd got a bronze-colored trophy, the one who placed 2nd got a silver-colored trophy and a gift card to Pelivaari (a game shop located at Rauma) and the one who placed 1st got a gold-colored trophy and a gift card to Suomalainen Kirjakauppa. The contestants who didn't place got honorary mentions for participating.
Lammasnoita also announced the winners of the drawing contest (there were two categories and both had one winner); if I remember correctly they also got gift cards to Suomalainen Kirjakauppa. After all it was a library event so we wanted some of the prizes to be book-relevant too.

After announcing the winners it was my time to run to host my lecture (or, well, I could fit a quick shopping spree at Artists' Alley in this gap lol). Opia Dance Crew's show was happening at the same time and most people wanted to see it so yeah, there weren´t that many people listening to me. It was more than okay tho tbh; at that point I already felt quite tired and even nauseous. The event, even though I could still flag it a success, had pretty much worn me out and I also felt kind of... Empty? I mean, I had spent countless of hours figuring out which would be the best way to do things, contacting multiple companies etc. and all. This school project sure got out of hand - in a good way but still, it sure was a handful :'D
After my lecture and the K-pop Random Dance, Mericon 2023 was officially over. We begun to clean up the place since we had it pretty well decorated and had to assure the Securitas guard that we were actually working there and not trying to steal anything since for some reason alarms were on even though they weren't supposed to be. 

So.
How did it feel?
Even though it sounds a bit weird, at first I felt like I had failed. My perfectionism is a double-edged sword; it obviously means I want to do everything as well as possible BUT even though other people could see the success I'm mostly able to see just those things that weren't done/perfect. I guess this is kind of a built-in Kaizen method in my head; always aim for doing things better and never stop developing since you can always do better.
But after all these months, when I look back to the event I must admit one thing: I couldn't have done anything better. The event was a first-time one and since there wasn't any feedback to build on... Well, you have to start somewhere, right? So yes, even I can say it was a success. This year we're probably gonna do a few things differently (we already have changed the font on our Instagram posts and will make our website better etc.) based on the feedback we got but even most of it was positive! So yeah, an important lesson to me: sometimes it's okay and even rightful to pat yourself on the back and say "hey, good job".
Got a very bad grade for my essay about the event though but to be honest that doesn't even matter anymore, I graduated months ago and nobody's gonna ask about it.

So yeah, that's a wrap for this text wall! 3rd of August is the date of Mericon 2024 so see you there! <3

Last but definitely not least: our wonderful team! <3 Photo © auriraitsu.

Until next time (which will be my Nippori 2023 summary).

- Firith