On Saturday, February 23, 2019, a few conventions, which included the eighth annual Winterfest presented by Ai-Kon, kept the whole RBC Convention Centre quite full all afternoon and evening. Ai-Kon’s yearly attraction, Winterfest originally started as a tenth-anniversary event in February 2011, but two years later became an annual event for all Anime/Pop culture fans to scratch their itch waiting for July to come around to attend the full three-day extravaganza that is Ai-Kon.
Winterfest had a lot for con-goers to keep busy throughout the entire day and evening. Between the screening room to watch episodes of popular anime or anime movies, the panel room, Maid Cafe, game room/game tournaments, cosplay hallway, the marketplace to purchase numerous items, art, etc. Even Nintendo of Canada set up a booth near the marketplace in the main hallway to let con-goers play/test out brand new Nintendo Switch games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu! and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! I should not forget about Winterfest’s dance corner in the main entrance area of the convention centre where many con-goers danced alongside the Winnipeg-based 10-member dance cover group, Nonets and others, throughout the entire con. Lastly, the main stage saw performances from the Anime theme song cover band, Party Punch, a K-pop dance showcase, and a performance by the j-Rock idol unit, Seishun Youth Academy.
There were a plethora of con-goers who dressed up as their favourite anime or pop culture characters at Winterfest, as many do at most cons, for those who are unfamiliar. A noticeable favourite this year was both various characters from the anime, My Hero Academia and Riot Games’ League of Legends pop group, K/DA. K/DA is a K-pop group collaboration between K-pop artists Soyeon and Miyeon of K-pop group, (G)I-DLE and American pop artists, Madison Beer and Jaira Burns.
I was able to catch up with a few of these cosplayers and grab a photo or two of their cosplay to show off the hard work and dedication they put into their cosplays for this year's Winterfest. The full photo gallery including the cosplay photos is available below.
All photos by Samuel Stevens Photography.