Monster Fest 10 - Chesapeake Central Library - Chesapeake Virginia Oct. 5th.

Ahhhh my favorite time of the year and my favorite convention came this past weekend to the Chesapeake Central Library in Chesapeake, Virginia.

For the past ten years on the first Saturday of October, Monster Fest has been an annual event. Monster Fest was created by Rob Floyd and Clayton Sayre out of their love for all things horror, monsters and cult. Monster Fest is a free event that is open to the public via the wonderful graces of the library and is appropriate for all ages. Did I mention it was free? This year marks the 10th anniversary of the convention and it was a blow out for sure!

Monsters galore!

The Fest always features, as most conventions do, vendors with plenty of cool swag and collectables. There are also local artists and authors selling their items. There are also plenty of costumes to behold as many attendees come dressed as their favorite horror characters or the product of their own incredible imaginations. Each year participants get to enter themselves into a costume contest judged by some of the guest T.V. personalities and vendors.

Dr. Madblood.

Local T.V. horror host Dr. Madblood always makes his presence known at Monster Fest and will makes his rounds throughout the convention documenting all the fun that is to be had for his Halloween special which airs towards the end of October.

Penny Dreadful (far right) attends her table.

 Other T.V. hosts come for the fun as well such as Penny Dreadful who hails from New England. Other past fests have seen the appearance of the Bowman Body from Richmond, Virginia and Dr. Sarcofiguy also from Virginia.

For those who like to get their geek on, like myself, there are also a slew of discussion panels and presentations ranging from zombie preparedness to discussions on horror film directors such as Mario Bava. This year monsterkid friend Josh Watson and I tackled George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and its impact on horror cinema and zombiedom.

The Cemetery Boys diggin up some creepy tunes!

There was also live entertainment! The Cemetery Boys made their third (I believe their third) appearance playing right out side the front doors. Performing some great spooky rock to set the mood for the days activities. This year's attendance set a record if I am not mistaken of 2,800 monster fans!!

The Sons of Frankenstein crankin out the jams at Fantasmo!

The convention winds down around 5 pm but don't worry because the doors open back up around 7:30pm for a double feature screening of classic horror films under the banner of Fantasmo Cult Cinema Explosion, which happens to be a bi-monthly event at the library all year round. This year's screening included Horror of Dracula (1958) and Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman (1943). Fantasmo was also the site of the first live appearance of the band The Sons of Frankenstein, a band I happen to play guitar in. We warmed up the already enthusiastic crowd of 130 with some fun rock n roll with a little bit of a monster edge.

So if you live in the Tidewater area come on over every October for Monster Fest! Also don't forget the bi-monthly Fantasmo Cult Cinema Explosion! Fun for monsterkids of all ages!!







Some more shots from Monster Fest 10!

Need a Vampire head?

Brother Shock (official mascot) welcomes you!

Such a lovely clown!

Some of the creations you will find lurking!

Monster Fest creator Rob Floyd and Uncle Felonious from Dr. Madblood.

The Wolfman is lurking

The Fright Shop staff will do you right! The Fright Shop

Costume contest!

Creepy bunny!

Mutant Rooster!

Some more vendors as Penny Dreadful shops around.

Coffindan and the official The Sons of Frankenstein guitar pick!

Rocking out with the Time Warp!