COMMUNITY NEWS

Comics, costumes and colorful characters

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A large cast of characters from Japanese art, a slew of comic books and international forms of entertainment flooded the East Meadow Public Library this weekend for the annual EMcon anime fest.

The festival, geared primarily toward teens, was held for the sixth time this year. While it started as an afternoon celebration of Japanese culture, EMcon is now a two-and-a-half-day event at which thousands of costume-clad people of all ages flock to to learn about, honor and share their love of different art and media.

EMPL Art Director Kelly Gordon first pitched the idea of throwing a comic convention. He is now a part of the team that plans the festival, which includes indoor and outdoor events and programs, such as:
- Video game tournaments
- Anime screenings

- Japanese pop and other musical performances
- Martial arts demonstrations
- Drawing and writing workshops
- Artist/author lectures and panels
- Manga and anime discussions
- Arts and crafts
- Trivia games

One of the major events at the festival was the cosplay contest on Sunday. Scores of teens dress up as characters from a movie, book or video game, and are judged by experts like professional Kira Scarlett.