We had a great time at the Mercedes Benz Marathon Weekend in Birmingham.  We had a lot of people come by our booth asking what the Alabama Phoenix Festival was all about – men, women, and children. We brought out some great volunteers who were dressed as superheroes. They ended up being a big hit! Every little girl that came by had to run over and hug Wonder Woman. But our favorite quote of the day was from a boy who came up to our SpiderMan and said, “I know you’re Peter Parker.” I guess we couldn’t fool him! Tim uploaded a bunch of photos to our facebook page. Go on over and take a look, and feel free to tag away…

While we had a great time at the event, we were also reminded of Birmingham’s rocky relationship with conventions of our kind. The most common comment that we got at the Marathon was “So it’s like comic con in Birmingham?” No, not really. We also had a few con veterans come by who hadn’t heard of us yet. We’re hoping that will change very soon. It is tough being the new kid on the block, but Tim and I are working very hard to make sure that this event gets bigger and better every year, and we’ve been blown away by the support we’ve received thus far.

We were asked multiple times if APF was appropriate for children. Absolutely! We want to encourage families to visit our daytime events, but we also wanted people to be aware that there were also 18+ events that would be going on at night.

FYI, Costumes may be different at night, as well.

But we wanted to be sure to post something that let’s everyone know that we appreciated you coming out to see us this weekend, whether volunteer or visitor – thank you! Be sure to stay tuned to our further escapades as we try to get this Festival off the ground and help the Phoenix to fly!

- Steve

Steve Charleson, CEO of Alabama Phoenix Festival