ESCANABA — Escanaba’s Bay College will host its fourth annual BAY-CON pop culture convention, “BACK to the BAY-CON,” on Saturday, May 3.

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on May 3 in the Physical Education Center (PEC) gymnasium and Besse Center, with free admission and free parking.

A $5 donation is strongly recommended for those 10 and up. The funds raised will help fund the event and the student club.

The event is the brainchild of Bay College Executive Director of Student Life & Campus Security Dave Laur, who originally came up with the idea in 2019.

“Then of course the world shut down with the pandemic and so everything was kind of put on hold and as we started moving and shaking again coming out of that time; we really wanted something that would just bring some joy to campus in our community and honestly myself and the students doing it. And so we decided to look more seriously into it and had our first one in 2021,” Laur said.

The first year was a success; roughly 800 people attended, and the event has grown exponentially.

The attendance rate nearly doubled in the next year as approximately 1,500 people attended.

“We expected maybe 2,000 or 2,500 last year. We had over 4,800 show up. So this year, we’re expecting 5,000 to 6,000. And it’s amazing to see the community response, and I mean last year we had over a third of the population of Escanaba here by number, which is just mind-boggling,” Laur said.

This year, the event is held in the PEC gym, a change for the event as it was held in the 900 building on campus in years past.

“We’ve outgrown that space,” Laur said.

There is an array of vendors, activities, games, displays, speakers, music, panels, and more at BAY-CON, spread out between the PEC and the Besse Theatre.

Guests will get a chance to participate in trivia, a cosplay contest, play vintage video games, and so much more.

Three special celebrity guests will be in attendance this year, including voice actor Sean Chiplock, known for roles in the movie Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and video games such as Mortal Kombat 11 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Voice actor Nika Futterman, known for her roles in TV shows such as Mickey Mouse Funhouse, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and video games such as Marvel Rivals and Psychonauts will also be in attendance.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) fans will be ecstatic as Steve Lavigne, the first artist employee hired by TMNT creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman, will be at the event.

Lavigne started lettering comics but then became the colorist for graphic novels and Mirage issue covers.

While Laur is the driving force behind BAY-CON, he says putting on the event is a team effort from everyone at Bay, including the maintenance and custodial staff, student clubs, athletic teams, admissions department, and many more.

“Right now, it’s a lot of 14-hour days of pre-setup and making sure the vendors are good, and our volunteers are good and we got tables in the right spots,” he said.

He added that he loves to see all the positivity surrounding the event, something the world could use a little more of.

“It just seems like right now there’s so much trying to tear us apart, and this is a way for people, regardless of so many things that we may differ on, to come together in a shared interest and just be happy. Just see those things that take us back to our childhood and share that with, you know, your kids or just share that with other people who appreciate it, which is a pretty special thing to see,” Laur said.

For more information, visit www.baycollege.edu/campus/events/bay-con.php.