Title: Events: Geek Fest 2016 Impressions!
Author: MG Thabo
Recovered Author: MG Thabo
Published Date: 2016-05-09
Original URL: https://geeknode.co.za/2016/05/events-geek-fest-2016-impressions
Wayback URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20170713183842id_/http://www.geeknode.co.za/2016/05/events-geek-fest-2016-impressions/
Recovery Confidence: high
Categories: Events
Tags: event, events, Geek Fest, geek fest 2016, geek fest impressions

- MG Thabo

- 1 year ago

- 0 0

It was a warm, sunny day on the 7th of May at the Inanda Country Base in Kyalami. There was a horde gathering outside a seemingly innocuous field, but the energy resonating from them was palpable. There were little gazebos lining the field that were filled with goodies that your heart so very desperately desired and happy people behind tables just itching to provide you with said goodies at a moment’s notice. As the clock struck 10 in the morning, the horde descended on this one sanctuary of geeky goodness, eager to spend their day among like-minded individuals and preparing to say very sorry to their wallets.

Geek Fest 2016 took place on the 7th and 8th of May and let’s just call it what it was: a celebration and amalgamation of all things geek. The people that showed up clearly come from all walks of life, but there’s a certain kinship that could be felt throughout the entire event. We were all there because we liked some pretty cool stuff and we would like to celebrate that. You could be an outcast, a charismatic schmoozer or just a curious onlooker and you would still feel like you belong. In that sense, Geek Fest was a resounding success. It was so awesome to see fellow geeks conversing with each other and of course, having a little geek out.

But What Happened?

So much stuff that your mind and body almost couldn’t keep up. There were over 180 stalls present at the event that all had their own little charm about them. From places that sold secondhand books and coffee, to places selling all kinds of geeky paraphernalia, there was everything your little heart desired and more. There were also places where you could play a bit of Magic The Gathering and a whole bunch of awesome boardgames that you could also buy if you liked them enough. As far as events goes, there was some metal-on-metal action from the guys at RoboWars where various contraptions competed in the heat of battle. Fight A Knight was present to bring a little medieval spice to everything as they dressed people up in full battle gear. There were people running around with massive lists for the Great Geek Challenge as they were frantically trying to tick off as many things as they could to win their sweet prize. Hashtag Escape were locking people in rooms and tasking them to get out as soon as possible using wit and skill.

People were also trying their luck with the various raffles going on during the day such as the sweet Dark Carnival raffle that was undoubtedly any geek’s dream. Also, this lovely site you’re reading right now also had a pretty dope raffle of our own going on. Just look at that handsome face (NiteFenix didn’t pay me to say that…Totally):

We’ve got a raffel going at @geekfestsa . R50 gets you a chance to win some cool geek loot! -MP pic.twitter.com/8BsfVWEVkN

— Geek Node (@geeknodeza) May 8, 2016

The People

Among the people wearing their t-shirts representing their favourite geeky franchise, there were of course the people that stepped their game up and cosplayed their favourite characters. There were some spectacular cosplays this year like you can see below:

Wonderful #cosplay 😀 #GeekFest2016 -MP pic.twitter.com/i25IQkZQGp

— Geek Node (@geeknodeza) May 8, 2016

More #cosplay . These Froods aren’t joking around! #GeekFest2016 -MP pic.twitter.com/9oGa0hLypX

— Geek Node (@geeknodeza) May 8, 2016

Some one please call the peeps you gotta call .. er Slime! #cosplay #GeekFest2016 pic.twitter.com/5krfjFzOAX

— Geek Node (@geeknodeza) May 8, 2016

A Mindless Pixie made an oopsie on this one:

Zelda! #cosplay #GeekFest2016 pic.twitter.com/mex1E1DXv7

— Geek Node (@geeknodeza) May 8, 2016

There are so many that you can find on our Twitter feed, but these three incredible bastards were undoubtedly one of the favourites from the event

We spotted the Force Awakens film crew wheeling around a BB8 #cosplay #GeekFest2016 pic.twitter.com/l9oBMnKIAc

— Geek Node (@geeknodeza) May 8, 2016

Besides cosplayers, the people that attended were all really friendly and all the vendors wanted to have a nice chat with you rather than try and piddle their wares at you for 5 minutes. There was a definite friendly atmosphere that you could feel as you were walking around the place.

What Can Change

While Geek Fest certainly was a success, it wasn’t all sunshine and TARDISes. The venue that they used wasn’t that great since it was pretty out of the way of any central locations and the parking situation was a bit less than desirable, with steep dirt roads not fit for smaller or low profile cars. There weren’t a lot of amenities such as bathrooms in the area and the event had to run on generator power. Also, since the second day of the event landed on Mother’s Day, the turnout wasn’t as grand as one would have expected. A little issue that I personally experienced was the lack of sitting areas and the ones that were available were almost always full or in the sun. People were sitting on the ground behind tents in order to rest their bones and that’s a little less than desirable. Besides these small issues, everything else ran swimmingly. The main stage was playing some awesome music throughout the day and there was always something happening on there too.

In conclusion, Geek Fest 2016 was simply an awesome time. A celebration of all things geeky and an opportunity to interact with your fellow geeks will always be a welcome event. We are excited to see what they can bring next year as they get bigger and better.

From us at Geek Node, we all solute you and thanks for all the fish and high fives.

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MG Thabo

Guest Contributor

Marko has played way too many games, listened to way too many metal albums and is probably taller than you. He is a qualified language and communication practitioner and likes to write about the good things in gaming.

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event · events · Geek Fest · geek fest 2016 · geek fest impressions

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