This picnic is free and open to all cosplayers and lovers of manga and anime. (Costuming is encouraged but not at all necessary.) Hot dogs, hamburgers, beverages and other snackage will be provided free of charge. (Donations will be accepted with a very sincere show of reluctance.) There's a cactus garden and a decorative pond to provide backdrops for photography.
The picnic will start at noon on Saturday, April fourth, 2009 in the north west corner of Pearson Park in Anaheim. (Google maps "Harbor and Sycamore, Anaheim CA" and it will come right up.) I've put in some photographs of the location below, and there's a couple of maps at the bottom of the page.
The picnic is intended to promote LosCon, a science fiction convention that takes place over Thanksgiving weekend. This year's LosCon theme is "But wait, there's more!" And "more" definitely includes cosplay. LosCon is not primarily an anime convention, but it will include a cosplay area, photo backdrops, video programming, an AMV contest at quite a bit of other anime related programming. It's a friendly convention, and we like cosplayers. The picnic will be set up a little bit like a convention, to give some idea of what LosCon will be like. Here's more info on LosCon. (The official LosCon website is http://www.loscon.org/36/.)
By the way, if you have a convention or other event that you'd like to promote, come down to the picnic and hand out flyers. I'll even feed you. LosCon does not want to compete with other conventions, and we want to emphasize that if you have limited funds and prefer a pure anime convention, LosCon will not be your first choice. Or your second. Frankly, our aim is for a crowd of otaku to attend LosCon and to say afterwards that it was worth going to LosCon as well as the other conventions they attended. We're not trying to take anyone away from any other event.
Here's an aerial view of the park. X marks the spot.
Here's what our location looks like. I've booked the shelter from ten a.m. to six p.m., so if you'd like to help with setup, you could get here at ten.
Can you imagine this set up to look like the inside of a major hotel? (No, neither can I.)
Here's a view of the cactus garden.
Another view of the cactus garden, and a very photogenic trashcan.
We will be separated from the cactus by a formidable metal fence.
Unfortunately, the actual LosCon won't have a cactus garden . . . . . . . . .or will it?
The park also has weird-looking trees.
Look, a duckpond. (Act surprised.)
There are tall cactus.
And scary cactus.
Well, they scare me!
These are either random parkgoers, or a really cheap remake of Death Race 2000. You decide.
Do I have a sick mind, or what?
There are of course the usual ducks.
And at least one unusual duck.
Again, X marks the spot.
The easiest way there is to get off the 5 freeway at Lincoln, go east on Lincoln, and then go north on Harbor.
Questions and comments: email me at squiptryx@gmail.com
Hope to see you there!
