SECOND ANNUAL TORONTO COSPLAY PICNIC OVERVIEW

The second annual Toronto Cosplay Picnic was held on Saturday, July 2nd, 2005. We met up bright and early Saturday morning at the ferry docks and immediately noticed something very different from the year before: a lot more people.

It's not that Centre Island wasn't busy last year, it is that it was extremely busy this year. It was July 1st weekend, which means that since it was a holiday weekend, a lot of people were out and about. July 1st weekend is also the time of the year most people go visit the island. This didn't mess up our plans that much, it just meant there was a lot more people to stare at us cosplayers. ^^;

Because of the amount of people who attended the picnic, our group got separated at the ferry. I went with the first batch of people to the island, while Amanda came later with the second batch.

Walking through the island was awesome since it was filled with little kids and all of them stared at us cosplayers in ways only children can. ^^ Also, the island hired people to dress up and walk around. We passed them when we first got on the island. They stared at us and we stared at them. Then one of them mentioned how we outdid them. X3

Anyway, we set up base camp under some trees and then everyone was free to do what they wished. People brought blankets and set up little picnics here and there. Other people started taking photos. Some cosplayers went to explore the island and the kid's amusement park on it. ^^

A lot of bystanders stopped to watch us, even though we were quite a ways back from the main path this year. Some people even came over to take photos and videotape us. It was amusing.

Most of the afternoon was spent hanging out, talking and taking photos. There were quite a few photographers there this year, and many people explored the island for places to do nice photoshoot.

All in all, this year's cosplay picnic was a great success. Everyone seemed to have a good time and we didn't set too many things anything on fire. I look forward to next year. ^^

Also, many thanks to Amanda for organizing this event and making it happen. You rock, Amanda! ^^