Celebration ushering in Halloween season coming to Pocatello for the first time
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POCATELLO – An event that celebrates horror and the Halloween season is coming to the Gate City for its first time ever.
DarknessCon, a convention described as “a celebration of everything Halloween, horror, paranormal and the macabre,” will hold an event at the Mountain View Event Center this upcoming Saturday. “DarknessCon: Snake River” will start in the morning and last until the stroke of midnight.
“Halloween, to us, has always been that fun holiday … (where) you get to be whoever you want, dress as you want, … in crazy costumes and you get to have fun,” said Michael Evelane, a promoter for DarknessCon.
DarknessCon was started five years ago in Boise, called initially the “Idaho Halloween and Haunters Convention,” and then was expanded to Denver, Colorado two years ago. As its organizers discussed where to expand next, Pocatello entered the conversation because they felt the Mountain View Event Center would meet the convention’s needs.
Tickets for DarknessCon start at $32.07 for an adult standard pass, $21.72 for a day pass, $16.55 for a young adult pass and $6.20 for a kids pass. Tickets can be purchased online on the DarknessCon website.
People can also purchase tickets onsite starting at 9 a.m. Once they leave the building’s entrance lobby, they’ll enter the Dealer Room and Artist Alley, where just under 60 vendors will showcase all kinds of merchandise and art that fall under the umbrella of horror.
“We have oddity dealers who will have petrified remains and things in embalming fluid. We have crochet people who do spooky eyeballs and stuff like that,” Evelane said. “We have a lot of authors who do a lot of horror books and whatnot. … There’s quite a few vendors that do 3D printed spooky home decor.”
Also starting at 9 a.m. will be the “DarknessCon: Snake River Film Festival,” which will feature films submitted by directors based out of the northern Intermountain West region.
While the film festival will end at 11 a.m. and the vendor floor will close at 6 p.m. that day, the celebration will continue. DarknessCon will feature a variety of events, such as a costume contest, multiple speaker and workshop sessions and a masquerade ball.
The costume contest will be held from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. and the winner will earn both a cash prize and a gift certificate to Darkness Cosmetics.
Some of the speakers at DarknessCon will be Heidi and McKayla Russell, sisters local to Pocatello who have become world champion cosplayers, Noel Wing, an author based out of Meridian and Naomi Grossman, an actress, producer and writer best known for her role as Pepper in “American Horror Story.”
The Masquerade Ball will start at 9 p.m. and go until midnight. While the convention will be more family-friendly during the day, the ball will be spookier and more geared towards adults.
Evelane described the ball as being “gothic-themed,” with, “armor decorations (and) candles out. Think like a scene in ‘American Horror Story: Coven.’”
With such a wide variety of things to do at DarknessCon, Evelane encouraged everyone to attend the convention’s first year in Pocatello.
“No matter who you are, if you like anything remotely spooky or or even just fun Halloween stuff, we’ve got something for you to do there,” Evelane said.