One Night – Tons of Different Fans
Hey Crawlers! This is Ed from Crawl Reno. In anticipation of another incredible crawl tomorrow, I wanted to take a moment and say a few things about the different communities who will be coming together to party tomorrow night at the Epic Crawl & Lightsaber Battle!
The Crawl Capital is a Magic Place
We’ve been running these events for 10 years now, and since day one we’ve been proud to show you all off to the rest of the world. After all, you are the event. Your heart, your humor, your great attitudes and your AMAZING costumes create the magic that is crawl night. Without you, downtown Reno wouldn’t be the outrageously fun destination that has earned us the name The Crawl Capital. You really do transform your environment with your spirit, and that’s incredible. It also comes with an incredible responsibility- one that we trust you with because you’ve done such a great job for a decade.
I believe that when people feel safe and free to be themselves, or even get a chance to be someone or something else, that they really bloom. That’s the environment that YOU all provide for the other crawlers, and that’s why these events are unlike anything else on the planet. This weekend a bunch of different groups will converge on the Epic Crawl, and I’d like to introduce you all to each other and hopefully inspire you all to keep that idea in the front of your minds.
TO REMEMBER THIS WEEKEND
No matter whether you identify in one of these groups or you’re just now hearing about them, let’s do what we always do:
- Respect the hell out of each other, especially if you meet someone who’s into stuff you’ve never heard of
- Make everyone feel safe. It’s not uncommon for fans of these groups to choose to have a sexy element to their costumes. That doesn’t mean they want any and all advances or want to be hit on all night.
- Celebrate our differences. That’s what makes these events SO MUCH FUN!
A Short Primer on Fandoms
One tagline we’ve used for this event is the Epic Fandom Crawl. In it’s simplest, a fandom is a community who are all fans of something. Just like many if not all of us are familiar with Sports fans- folks who are intensely connected to their teams, who dress in their colors, paint their faces and bond over similar experiences- there are fandoms for tons of things. Throughout pop-culture’s history we’ve seen Beetlemaniacs emerge in the 60’s, Trekkies in the 70’s and even Juggalos in the 90’s. In the realm of fantasy and science fiction there are a lot of very active fandoms. I’d also say the craft beer movement represents in may ways a fandom too.
Here are a few notable fandoms we expect to see this weekend:
Star Wars Fans
This is probably the largest fandom we’ll see this weekend, since we’ve themed the event toward the Star Wars galaxy these last 2 years and even host a massive lightsaber battle! Plus, it’s one that so many people relate to, and have for 4 decades. This fandom is rich in its variations with some who just like playing around and some who get very serious with the details of their costumes or intricate lightsabers. A lot of these fans like to take popular costumes and give them a new twist like a Steampunk Darth Vader.
Anime & Manga Fans
Anime and Manga both originated in Japan, with Anime focusing on animated movies and shows, while Manga is focused more on drawn art like comics and illustrations. There’s a lot of variety in these fandoms but there’s a TON of cute characters.
Furries
Furries are fans of creating (mostly) animals with human characteristics, like walking on two legs or sometimes the ability to speak or wear clothes in the way that cartoon characters might. Many dress in suits that might look to you as something similar to a mascot of a sports team. Some just do this occasionally and some incorporate some level of this into their everyday lives. Some don’t speak when they’re in their suits. Some don’t take off their masks in public. Reno is host of one of the largest Furry conventions this weekend! You’ll probably see furries out and about so be respectful if they don’t speak or take off their mask.
Craft Beer Fans
These folks LOVE CRAFT BEER. There’s not a lot I need to explain here, since it’s assumed that many of us do as well. They just really, really, really like a lot of what goes into beer, what makes it beer and how to make really good beer. Our event is actually part of Reno Craft Beer Week, so we expect to see these folks on the crawl- we’ve even added craft specials for them and for you this year!
Steampunk
Steampunk is a genre of costuming or cosplay that takes elements of the Victorian past and an alternate future where instead of running much of our technology on combustion engines we still use steam to power them. Steampunk fans make some of the best costumes we’ve ever seen. This year we’re not putting on our Steampunk crawl, so we’ve invited these folks to join us- and even decked out 3rd Street Bar exclusively in Steampunk attractions.
Other Fandoms
Of course we expect to see Trekkies, fans of A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones), Potterheads, and folks who are into comics, other sci-fi movies, and characters from video games too. Plus there’ll be TONS of people who just like to dress up like Wonder Woman, the Avengers, or Rick & Morty (cough, cough, personal favorite).
What’s important this weekend is that we all sense that responsibility to create a fun, safe environment for everyone. If you are curious about a specific fandom, that’s great. You’ll probably have a ton of opportunities to learn- just make sure to be the kind of respectful crawlers we’ve always seen you be. Look out for everyone whether you know them or not, stay within your limits and take care of everyone as one large group. Because in a way, these magical crawls you all have built with us are our own little corner where all fandoms intersect with Reno’s vibrant nightlife.
Have fun tomorrow night!
– Ed