At the Cosplay First Aid Station in a back corner of the Petaluma Community Center, Emma Wendel stood ready to patch up any wounds — to costumes, that is.
Around her on Saturday flowed the attendees of the ninth iteration of Petaluma’s free youth comic convention, LumaCon. While many attendees came in their street clothes, a good number were outfitted as characters from comic books, animé shows, video games and fantasy novels.
Sooner or later some would need a repair.
“You can have little accidents with your costume if you’ve been wearing it for a couple of hours,” Wendel said.
Equipped with sewing machine, hot glue gums, tape, safety pins, markers of all colors — and yes, just in case, bandages — Wendel was dressed as Winifred Sanderson, chief antagonist of the classic Disney witch film “Hocus Pocus.”
For the many children in attendance, the event hosted by librarians from Casa Grande High School, Petaluma High School, and Petaluma Regional Library is a chance to explore passions for comic books, film, cosplaying and live action role play or LARP.
Outside the event, children of varying ages battled each other with foam swords, spears and bow and arrows. The faux combat is essentially “freeze tag swordplay,” said Joe Cochrane, a retired Petaluma librarian and one of LumaCon’s founders.
“Press this way!” one boy yelled as he led a group of his comrades in what appeared to be a flanking maneuver.
Christopher Melville, who runs weekly competitions in Sebastopol through his organization Fanwar, hosted the LARP action, along with a foam sword making workshop.
Back inside, students from Casa Grande and Petaluma High School squared off in California’s new official varsity-level high school competition: Esports.
As a small group looked on, two students at Nintendo Switch controls competed in Smash Brothers Ultimate — a game where characters from a wide range of video games battle each other on fantasy battlefields.
Though just an exhibition and not an official match, the battle drew cheers from spectators and teammates.
Down the hallway, Danni Baird wore a white wig, full armor and carried a fantastical firearm for her outfit as a member of Adepta Sororitas, an all-female cadre of warriors from the world of tabletop strategy game Warhammer 40k.
“I’ve been to a lot of comic-cons,” she said, but the youth focus makes LumaCon special. “I will always come back to this one,” she said.
Baird stood by the table of her friend, Petaluma costume maker Shawn Thorsson, who wrote a book and built a business out of crafting armor, weapons and other props for fantasy enthusiasts. While Thorsson’s books were on sale, this day wasn’t about business, Baird said.
“He really does like helping other cosplayers develop their skills,” she said. “It’s about building the community.”
You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Graham at 707-526-8667 or andrew.graham@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @AndrewGraham88
