A few Cochrane businesses and organizations made their way to the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo from April 28 to May 1.
The expo featured hundreds of vendors and exhibitors and provides a great way for local businesses and organizations to promote their product or mandate.
The Syrian Refugee Committee with St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Cochrane partnered with a booth to raise donations for Syrian refugees.
“I came to the comicon about three or four years ago and noticed that they had things like this and that there were authors selling books, so the idea hit me about five months ago that we should try and get a table,” said Pastor Bart Eriksson, who also writes and publishes fantasy novels.
For the committee, the first couple days of the expo were slow but the last couple days “were relatively busier.” Eriksson was using sales of his book to raise money for the cause.
For Rob Petkau, owner of Genesis Custom Sabres here in Cochrane, the expo was chance to make some sales and get some feedback about his products.
“Essentially what I tell people is that I’m like a custom motorcycle shop, except with lightsabers,” Petkau explained.
By the end of day three of the expo, he managed to sell over half of the products he had brought with him.
“The popularity of the new Star Wars movie has generated a lot of interest … this is a valuable experience for me because I sell online all over the world. This is the only time of the year when I get to interact face-to-face with people about my product,” Petkau said.
He said as an artist he loves to see people’s reactions to his products. The experience is also great for collecting feedback from customers.
Also at the expo was Cochrane-based Zombie Survivor. The company organizes a five-kilometre obstacle course that will be taking place at the Cochrane Agricultural Society in July.
Participants can register to run as a survivor or a zombie and the race plays out like a flag-football game – survivors have three flags attached to them and zombies must try to steal the flags throughout the race.
