On August 6th, our Guardians of Justice reach ended up sprinkling throughout greater Central Florida! While some of our Guardians attended their first day at Tampa Bay Comic Con, we also found ourselves in a random little piece of Florida to host as exhibitors at the pilot Astor Geek Fest.
You’ve never heard of Astor, Florida? It was our first time, too! So we buckled in bright and early, ready for a new adventure ahead.
Entrusting Google Maps to navigate this foreign territory, we discovered that Astor is just on the outskirts of the Ocala National Forest, near a beautiful intercostal waterway. We certainly caught the vibe that we weren’t in Orlando anymore once we hadn’t seen a highway in more than 15 miles and traffic really lightened up.
We knew we must be in the right place as we pulled up to the baseball field of Astor Geek Fest watching renaissance tents being put up and a Steam-punked Darth Vader silently brooding around the area. He made sure to mention his energy drink was off limits in the break room.
Guardians of Justice attended Astor Geek Fest to promote all things fandom for the community residents in the area. U.S. Agent, Tinker Bell, and our two marvelous handlers (Monica and Tracy), braved the hot Florida summer heat as our small yet mighty group. We patrolled the area, met a bunch of new, interesting people and had the opportunity to spread word about our organization and what we do.
Other exhibitors included local artists, authors, medieval swordsmen, jewelers and leather crafters. This place had a little bit of something for everyone! The afternoon ended with the highly anticipated teapot races (yes – literally teapots soldered onto remote control chassies). Astor was quite an intriguing place and we were glad to be included in their festivities that allowed us to geek in a place we’ve never geeked before!
On our way home, we stopped at the incredibly epic-looking Barberville Roadside Yard Art Emporium that we saw on the way in to look at some weird yard ornaments. You just don’t pass these kinds of opportunities up! You never know where you’re going to end up next.
*** A huge shout-out goes to our Guardians of Justice members, Lizology Cosplay and LittleFischey Cosplay, for taking home first place at TBCC on the same day as this event! They placed in the categories of Anime and TV/Film with Asami (Legend of Korra) and Captain Amelia (Treasure Planet).***
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