Thousands attend Sci-Fi on the Rock in St. John's for its busiest convention yet

Abby Cole · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 30, 2025 5:10 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Around 4000 radical from each antithetic fandoms – from sci-fi and phantasy to anime and fearfulness — gathered successful St. John's implicit the play for the 17th yearly Sci-Fi connected the Rock. 

The normal took implicit the Sheraton Hotel, with a ample vendor space, gaming rooms, conscionable and greets and panels. Many attendees wore costumes of their favourite characters, which they were capable to amusement disconnected astatine the event's costume contest. 

"This is shaping up to beryllium our busiest year," said Drew Saurus, the vice seat of the convention's committee. "We conscionable enactment truthful overmuch effort into it, conscionable seeing it get bigger each year."

Costumes are a immense portion of Sci-Fi connected the Rock, with galore attendees dressing up arsenic their favourite characters from each corners of popular culture.

"We get comments each twelvemonth that our colonisation of costumed radical compared to different [conventions] is conscionable supra and beyond thing they spot percent wise," said Saurus. 

He believes that costumes are popular successful this province due to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians' artistry, craftiness and willingness to assistance each other. 

"Everyone's competing against each different successful the costume contest, but wants to assistance everyone other look arsenic bully arsenic they can," helium said. "We're conscionable specified a ace affable colonisation ... I emotion seeing our assemblage travel together."

Saurus said each the enactment enactment successful to making the normal hap is worthy it for the peculiar moments, similar seeing radical from antithetic walks of beingness travel unneurotic and speech astir the things they love. 

"When I was 10 years old, we didn't person events similar this successful the metropolis ... I played Dungeons and Dragons with my 3 friends, and that was it," helium said. "I conscionable emotion seeing the assemblage coming unneurotic and conscionable being a community."

WATCH | Sci-fi connected the Rock was filled to the brim with popular civilization fans Saturday morning: 

Fire and Steel

Saurus was successful complaint of the convention's 76 vendors. 

One vendor successful particular, Fire and Steel, held a agelong enactment of excited shoppers since the convention opened. The Toronto-based retailer sells replica weaponry for some cosplay and existent martial arts, with a peculiar accent connected making fictional swords a reality. 

The institution competed connected CBC's Dragon's Den, wherever Fire and Steel's CEO, Laura Suen, struck a $1 cardinal woody with the prima of Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Simu Liu, and entrepreneur Michele Romanow. 

Speaking connected Saturday, Suen said it was dainty to travel to St. John's to merchantability their blades. She said it's large that radical person the accidental to bargain their products successful person, alternatively of online with costly shipping fees. 

"A batch of out-of-province companies find it to beryllium very, precise hard to get here. So it's a truly large woody that we're present for the archetypal time," said Suen. 

Suen said she was thrilled by the overwhelmingly affirmative effect from Sci-Fi connected the Rock attendees. 

"I'm truthful blessed to accidental that radical person truly showed up to enactment Canadian," said Suen. "I cognize that we're not local, but the information that they're supporting a Canadian company, it's a truly large woody to us."

Sci-Fi connected the Rock runs until Sunday astatine 6 p.m.

Download our free CBC News app to motion up for propulsion alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to sojourn our landing page.