It's all good news from the sixth annual CK Expo in Chatham.
The attendance numbers and the fundraising figures both saw a boost this year.
Organizer Rob Bellamy said approximately 2,650 people packed the John D. Bradley Convention Centre on April 27 for the pop culture show, which featured everything from comics and superheroes to video games and sci-fi characters. Bellamy said that's an increase of about 250 people compared to last year's event.
He said this year's special guests were a big hit.
"Paul McGillion and Eddie Deezen were fan favourites from different varieties, which I found amazing," said Bellamy, adding the kids' activities went over well. "The Toopy and Binoo shows were in the games room... and then we had the Klingons come from Timmins... they ran a young warriors academy in the arena."
The fundraising numbers were solid this year, too -- the event raised just shy of $5,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters Chatham-Kent. Bellamy said he's looking bringing back the event again in 2020.
"I love the reaction when people first walk in the door because there's so much going on," said Bellamy. "One person I remember vividly -- I'm walking out at the end of the night and he turned around and he goes, 'Are the applications ready for next year?' I said, 'Not quite yet,' and he said, 'Well send me one, I definitely want to come back'... I think that's the biggest compliment I could've had that day."
