The first-ever Mountain State Pop Expo recently turned West Virginia's capitol city into a hotspot for gamers and comic fans.
The convention took place Nov. 7 at the Charleston Marriott Town Center, and it saw hundreds of attendees. The event featured dozens of vendors and activities, consisting of rare video games, comics, manga, anime, as well as video game and cosplay contests.
Event goers had plenty of things to buy. Many were seen walking out the door with new video games, comic books, and even entirely new video game systems.
To give patrons an even better reason to visit, the money collected from raffles and the $5 entry tickets went directly to Children's Home Society of West Virginia, a nonprofit dedicated to helping children through adoption and foster care.
David Humphreys, an avid comic reader and gamer himself, works for the Children's Home Society. He organized this year's Pop expo.
"The organization I work for depends on fundraising events to be able to help people in the community, and I figured that this would be something that could reach a lot of people we haven't seen at our other functions," Humphreys said.
The popular culture expo operated smoothly in its first year. Humphreys said he plans to organize a second expo in 2016.
"Hopefully, it will be even bigger and better," he said.
The Children's Home Society raised $3,600 from the event, Humphreys said.