Review: St. Tammy Collectors Con and Bo’s Extravaganza

I would like to pose a question that may not be easy to answer. What qualifies an event to be a convention? Whenever I think about this subject, I come up with some generalized elements which seemed to be characteristic about what an individual would see at any convention on any given weekend. Typically, most conventions have a dealer’s room, panel room, costume contest, and media guests. While this seems to be the most basic definition of a convention, there are some that have stretched that definition while providing flashes of what a traditional convention would offer.

One such show was the St. Tammany Collectors Con held in Mandeville, Louisiana.  This one-day event brought together individuals who were looking to purchase merchandise and collectibles from some of their favorite fandoms. In addition, this event offered a panel room and costume contest as well as featured a couple of media guests including John Morton from Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back.  I was greatly impressed with the level of professionalism of the staff of this event and really saw the potential of such an event to become a full-blown convention.

On the exact opposite side of the convention spectrum was an event held in Holden, Louisiana at the home of actor John Schneider.

The event is called Bo’s Extravaganza, which has become a celebration of the Dukes of Hazard along with that of John Schneider’s birthday. At this event it was way different than that of a traditional convention but still had some of the elements to add flavor. 

Bo’s Extravaganza is an outdoor event where John Schneider invites participants to meet celebrities, view a great car show, and even participate in one of his indie film projects. event participants become background actors while a stunt professional performs a daring maneuver to provide a suspenseful element to the movie.

Now that we have moved on from the global pandemic back to a world with some sense of normalcy it’s great to see that these types of events are still happening. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to go to events that are not conventions, but still have those flavors that make it feel like I’m in a convention setting. hats off to the organizers of these types of events that happen all over the world. if we look at the definition of a convention and we analyze what it means to go to these events we will see that both are sometimes actually the same thing.

Justin Toney
Managing Editor
www.FandomAppearances.com