Sunday 20th August played host to a relatively new event called “Ham-Fest” at Oldham Leisure Centre aimed at Cosplay/Gaming/TV/Movie enthusiasts. Having attended our first large event MCM Comic Con in Manchester and surviving what was an exhilarating and at the same time tiring day. We were keen to sample a local convention which was just a 10 minute ride by Metrolink.
Ham Fest is in its second year and as events go appeared to be well organised and had something to cater for everyone. Young children had the opportunity to learn how to fight like a Jedi with small lightsabres as well as take part in a cosplay masquerade. There were also many “professional” cosplayers present with some outstanding costumes, the Iron Man Hulk Smasher looked particularly awesome not to mention the appearance of Bumblebee from Transformers. A contingent of Imperial Stormtroopers were also on duty providing much variety in the types of characters present.
There was an excellent selection of stalls present, some of which were displaying fantastic pieces of artwork, sadly none that I could buy on the day due to being short of cash.
As for photo opportunities it was fantastic as there were many other cosplayers present who were very welcoming of posing for photos of either just themselves or with visitors & children. Me and my son and daughter went as an ensemble of the main cast of Steins;Gate. I spent most of the day trying to get as many cosplayers I could. The organisers had also brought in a local photographer Darren Wood of RAW Photography to run a photo booth for the day. I would say that his photographs were superb and I learnt a bit from watching his approach to event photography and how to get the best out of his subjects.
Also attending the convention were a couple of YouTube Bloggers, Pizza Games Funtimes
and Michael the Lunatic Chat Show which we featured in an interview about cosplaying as Steins;Gate’s main characters.
I would rate Ham-Fest a solid 5/5 for providing a great day’s entertainment and would recommend it to anyone who wants to experience a smaller convention before taking on something like Comic Con. It’s a great thing for the town of Oldham and the surrounding areas and if anything needs more support to spread the word!
A big thank you to the organisers for this event and we look forward to seeing you again next year!
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