Fans — and stars — of Hallmark Christmas movies will converge on KC for a convention
Do you hear what I hear? That’s fans of Hallmark Christmas movies geeking out because Christmas Con is coming to town.
Like Comic-Con, its famous cousin, Christmas Con is a fan fest, though you’re more likely to see people wearing ugly Christmas sweaters than superhero tights to meet the stars of their favorite Hallmark holiday rom-coms.
But just like at Comic-Con, these fans stand in long — very long — lines to get autographs and take selfies with the celebrities. (Veteran Christmas Con fans recommend wearing comfy shoes.)
It is set for June 9-11 at the Overland Park Convention Center. Tickets go on sale Friday at purchase.growtix.com. Adult tickets range from $60 and $65 for single-day passes to $135 for all three days. The website of the event’s organizers is Thats4Entertainment.com.
Fans scooped up tickets to last month’s event in Edison, New Jersey in 20 minutes. It sells out there every year.
The host will be “Mean Girls” actor Jonathan Bennett, who starred last season in “The Holiday Sitter,” Hallmark Channel’s first Christmas movie centered on a gay couple.
The celebrity lineup thus far includes Hallmark Christmas movie regulars Erin Cahill, Danica McKellar, Andrew Walker, Paul Campbell, Brennan Elliott, Melissa Joan Hart, Jen Lilley, Taylor Cole, Brennan Elliott, Benjamin Ayres, Wes Brown and Cameron Mathison.
More names will be added over the coming weeks, according to organizers. The announcement on their Facebook page melds Christmas with Oz.
A poster shows Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion as gingerbread people standing on the Yellow Brick Road in front of a Christmas tree.
“We have constantly been asked to bring Christmas Con to the Midwest and what better place to host a Christmas convention than the birthplace of Hallmark, Kansas City,” Christina Figliolia and Liliana Kligman, the founders of the event, said in a statement to People magazine.
The convention is not run by Hallmark.
With all the trappings of a snow globe, Christmas Con typically includes a tree lighting ceremony, panel discussions with the celebrities, caroling, a Santa appearance, holiday-themed backdrops for photos and vendor booths. There could be a gingerbread house contest.
“There’s this massive following for these (Hallmark) movies, and there was nowhere for people to come together and meet these celebrities and celebrate them and their work,” Figliolia told Pasadena Weekly when it arrived there last month. “That’s why we decided, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s put it together.’”
She said she and Kligman took cues from various fan conventions and created their own niche, “where it is a convention but has a different personality to it,” she told the Pasadena publication. “Especially with Christmas Con, it has more of that holiday town feel, where everyone knows each other, and there’s families.”
At the first gathering a few years ago in New Jersey, “we had people coming up to us crying, thanking us for doing this because these movies got them through a hard Christmas or a difficult time in their lives,” she said.
Follow That’s 4 Entertainment on Facebook, Instagram (Instagram.com/thats4ent/) and Twitter (twitter.com/thats4ent) for more details.
This story was originally published January 9, 2023 at 2:02 PM.
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