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Well, it seems Wizard is on an acquisition spree this week, as they have just announced annexing the Central Canada Comic Con, a mid-size show held in Winnipeg that just wrapped up this weekend and will be held over the Halloween weekend next year. It already had a guest mix of random Jedi, Star Trek crew members and local creators, so it’s a natural fit for Wizard’s show brand. It’s Wizard’s second foray into Canada, after the Toronto Comic-Con. For those not versed in Canadian geography, Winnipeg is in the Manitoba province, about halfway between Toronto and Vancouver. We’re not enough of an expert to know whether this is a competitor for the Calgary Entertainment Expo, a well-established show that is moving to June from April next year.

Wizard has long been trying to get into the Pacific Northwest market. Reportedly, they’ve been making inquiries with several shows in this area of late. So keep your eyes peeled on that Wizard RSS feed! And check out the next story!

Gareb Shamus, CEO of Wizard Entertainment, today announced the acquisition of the Central Canada Comic Con, of which the 2010 event was held this past weekend at the Winnipeg Convention Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  The dates for the 2011 Wizard World Central Canada Comic Con are October 28-29-30, 2011

“We have seen this hugely successful event and are proud to add Central Canada Comic Con as our newest Canadian show,” said Shamus.  “We look to continue its run of great events and celebrating pop-culture across Canada.”

“I am excited to be partnered with Wizard World as they will help bring the C4 Event to the next level for the fans,” said Damien Paille, President of Cencon Inc. and Show Manager of Central Canada Comic Con.  “They will benefit the community exponentially.”

Central Canada Comic Con is the second largest convention of its genre in Canada.  The show grew out of the Manitoba Collector’s Expo, with everything from sports cards to antiques to toys and comic books.  In 2000 it became the Manitoba Toy & Comic Expo, dropping the antiques and reducing the sports cards.

In 2006, the show’s attendance exploded as the Manitoba Comic Con, and brought in attendees from all over Manitoba and North Dakota.  The show focused on toys, comic books, gaming, anime, and local artists.  In 2007, it added media guests from the world of Star Wars, Superman, Star Trek and more. Finally, in 2008, it moved to its current home at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.  Wizard World will continue all the customs and traditions that have made this show successful, while adding many of the elements that Wizard World fans have come to expect at our pop-culture festivals across North America!

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1 COMMENT

  1. Speaking as a local…

    …really?

    Honestly, I can’t imagine Wizard’s gain in annexing this con. The convention is small, the potential audience isn’t great. Heck, before 2005 we had gone some 20 years since our last con.

    Exactly what do they mean by “annexed”? Does this con become Wizard World Winnipeg?

  2. Actually, as a fellow local, Winnipeg had cons throughtout the early to late ’90s. However you are right about the size of the current show. Despite some pretty good crowds (for Wpg), I don’t see why Wizard is interested in spending the money to take it over.
    That said, maybe they can do a better job then the current owners at running this thing. I mean c’mon, NOT telling people that the main guest ( Ray Park ) had cancelled? Renting a big booth to a bunch of con artists running a credit card scam disguised as a “raffle” and then saying they weren’t aware it even though they had signs, raffle boxes and a motorcycle that said “Win Me!” all over the hall? Not to mention that someone pulled an almost identical scam at the 2008 show.

    I’ve heard some negative stuff about some of Wizard’s past U.S shows, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Just don’t screw it up.

  3. Canada is massive. Think of a province as you would a state.
    – Manitoba is the next province west of Ontario (btw “Central Canada” is an historical term that has always been applied to Ontario and Quebec). Now if I wanted to drive from Toronto to Winnipeg it would take me about 24 hours to do it, almost 1400 miles to drive. The closest competing convention is the Minnesota FallCon in Minneapolis-St.Paul (8 hours driving, over 450 miles).
    – West of Manitoba it’s Saskatchewan, which really has absolutely no comic-cons at this time.
    – West of Saskatechewan it’s Alberta – whose biggest cities are Edmonton and Calgary. I wouldn’t say that the Winnipeg and Calgary shows are in much competition any more than any other shows in different regions are – like if a show in Chicago and New York were going on the same weekend. Just to give you a sense of geography – it would take you 13 hours to drive to Calgary from Winnipeg as they are over 800 miles apart.
    – Finally, west of Alberta, over the Rocky mountains, is British Columbia, whose biggest city Vancouver has only some smaller shows at this time.

  6. Or to translate it vertically for us “Americans”…

    Vancouver = San Francisco
    Calgary = (almost) Salt Lake City or Phoenix
    Winnipeg = Dallas (or Omaha)
    Toronto = Pittsburgh
    Montreal = New York City

    and the Maritimes are all east of Maine.

  7. I’ve heard mixed things about Winnipeg’s show but it gets good creators and surprisingly good numbers. I doubt it’s a serious competitor to the Calgary Expo (which was a very good show last year with a lot of fans willing to spend a lot of money) but I’d love to visit Winnipeg again; it’s a pretty waterfront city damned only by interminable weather.

  9. Hopefully Wizards will get 20,000 people through the doors, not like the last promoter. In 2008 the CCCC said they had over 17,000 in attendance, I would say they were lucky to have 3,000 for the two days. Now Calgary in 2010 had over 20,000 people now that I believe is true because the volume of people was tremendous.

  10. they (the organizers) make a real good attempt at continuing this show, when they refer to potential ticket buyers who ask legitimate questions as douchebags. real classy and still no offical word from wizard as to why they dropped it? and giving money in the form of dontations to an organization that isnt even registered as a non profit but advertise that they are?

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