[PICS] National Corvette Museum Hosts 2nd Annual Vette City Con

Jan 30, 2018

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National Corvette Museum Hosts 2nd Annual Vette City Comic Con

Photo Credit: Gregg Rich

In the 65 years since Chevrolet began making Corvettes in 1953, the fiberglass sports car has turned into quite the pop culture icon.

That’s why it was no surprise that the National Corvette Museum would play host over the weekend to the second Vette City Con, described in a story by The Bowling Green Daily News as “an eclectic mix of pop culture that brought comic book lovers, science fiction fans and pop art aficionados” to the NCM.

Co-organizers Michael Etherton and Chad Sheppard were pleased with this year’s growth in attendance, with the number of visitors expected to nearly double that of the inaugural event in 2017.

Sheppard isn’t shocked by the increased popularity among visitors, since the second event grew to about 60 vendors hawking everything from comic books, action figures and custom quilts. That’s not to mention the celebrities hanging around, like former pro wrestler Hillbilly Jim, horror-movie actors Steve Dash from “Friday the 13th” and Tony Moran (Michael Myers in the original “Halloween”) and former “Brady Bunch” stars Susan Olsen and Mike Lookinland. And don’t forget Star Wars villain Kylo Ren.

“I’ve been to some comic cons in Louisville and Nashville,” said one visitor, Kendrick Strange of Bowling Green. “I heard they were having this, and I wanted to check it out. It’s fun to talk about ‘Star Wars’ because I’m a huge ‘Star Wars’ fan. I’ll check out the comic books too. If I see something I can’t live without, I’ll buy it. Otherwise, I’ll just look around.”

Just as the Corvette is considered a bargain among sports car enthusiasts, the Vette City Con – modeled after comic book conventions in larger cities – lives up to that consumer-friendly notion as well.

“If you go to bigger conventions,” Sheppard points out, “you’ll pay $100 for a ticket and pay more for your hotel room and parking. You can get the same experience here for $15.”

Sheppard says the 2017 event was basically a trial run, testing the market for such an experience in Bowling Green. “We thought the response was pretty good, so we thought we’d try it again,” he said.

One popular display at this year’s event, which concluded Sunday, was set up by the Louisville chapter of 501st Legion, an international organization promoting the creation and wearing of screen-accurate replicas of “Star Wars” characters.

With the latest “Star Wars” movie still fresh in the minds of fans, it was no surprise that folks of all ages stopped by the 501st Legion’s booth to have their pictures made on life-sized models of the speeder bikes from “Return of the Jedi.”

“Going back only two or three years, we didn’t have a lot of members,” said Travis Buckmeier, a leader with the Louisville 501st Legion. “But now, with the new movies coming out, interest has increased.

It’s been great.”

Sheppard, meanwhile, hopes to see interest in the Vette City Con continue to grow, too.

“We would love to see it grow to 30,000 people,” he said.

Check out these photos by Gregg Rich from the 2nd Annual Vette City Con!