PopCon this weekend expecting visit from Iron Man and others

CADILLAC — Starting the first weekend of November last year two local business owners took a gamble and opened the North End Market in the old JC Penney building.

Now nearly three months later, Christina Gingrich and Heather Baxter are realizing their goal of bringing fun activities for the community along with awareness of local artists and their products with this weekend’s PopCon.

“We have wanted to make the market fun and versatile for everyone to enjoy,” said Gingrich. “We want to host different kinds of events for the community to enjoy and this is a fun event where folks of any age can dress up and simply have a great time.”

PopCon is a nationwide craze referring to popular culture and anything trending or has trended in the past. At PopCon events fans can find anything from vintage collectibles and art to modern trends on TikTok.

Saturday, Jan. 13, and Sunday, Jan. 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Crystal Smith, owner and artist of Crafts by Cici, and her husband and partner will host this year’s PopCon at the North End Market.

“We first got involved with the Cadillac PopCon put on by Wargames and we fell in love with how nice everyone was and how people could be themselves with everyone accepting you as you are,” said Smith. “From there we got accepted into Traverse City’s comic con known as Cherry Capital Comic Con (C4) and from there we joined Lansing’s Comic Con, the Monroe Pop Fest and Grand Rapids Comic Con.”

Smith started her business called Crafts by Cici in 2021 while she was running a home daycare business. While the children slept Smith taught herself to crochet and decided to try and sell her items at area markets and online.

“My first show was the Buckley Old Engine Show and I could not believe how many people loved the items I created,” Smith said. “My husband then decided he wanted to join my adventure and we have been doing it together ever since. I recently shut down the daycare so I could do this full-time.”

For Smith and her husband, Tayer, joining the comic con circuit required the couple to travel more in Michigan, while still selling her products online to 45 of the 50 states.

“This event is a great way to show the community about Pop Con and Comic Con and at the same time show the people the North End Market can be a great place to come shop,” Smith said.

Along with Crystal coming dressed as Stitch and her husband as Iron Man, their kids are coming as Jedi and blow-up dragons. Some kids are expected to bring back their Halloween costumes and even Ghostbusters, Macho man, Misty from Pokemon and Ash Ketchum are expected to make an appearance this weekend. Many traditional North End Market vendors are planning to get into the spirit by coming dressed in their favorite character while bringing themed products for shoppers.

On Saturday there will be a costume contest at 1 p.m. and on Sunday a crash team racing tournament will take place also at 1 p.m. The crash team racing contest is a throw-back to the old school Mario Kart games where you not only race, but you get to “blow up” other people. For both contests, prizes from the vendors at the market will be awarded to the winners. Prizes will include a 3-D printed dragon, freeze-dried candies and more. Both events are for children and adults.

For those interested in learning more about 3-D printing, Tayer will be on hand to showcase his 3-D printed Iron Man suit which allows for a remote switch to operate the front plate of the suit so it goes up and down while the eyes light up and the helmet works like the one in the Iron Man movie. While learning the 3-D printer process, Smith learned there is no specialized kit to make the designs, so it gave him the opportunity to express his creativity through sanding, painting and electrical processes.

“The markets we go to have been an amazing experience and when people come up to our booth and their face lights up, it makes our hearts so happy that someone loves the items we have created,” said Crystal Smith. “People always ask us why we are so happy and have so much energy, but the truth is it is hard not to be that way when people love our products that we worked so hard to create and we are just so happy to be able to do something we love so much every day.”