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It’s a go, for CAPE, and it’s not too far off.
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The Cornwall & Area Pop Event will finally have its sixth edition, the first since the mid-spring of 2019, when it returns to the Benson Centre April 23-24, and with tickets currently on sale.
“We’re very excited to have it return,” said Carol Sauve, organizer of the event along with her husband Randy Sauve, the CAPE founder, who had to call off that 2020 edition just a month before the scheduled date.
It would be a no-go again in 2021, too. But, back in mid-June of last year, the Sauves teased the possibility/likelihood of a 2022 event, simply writing “hmmm…” when posting a social media graphic about an 80s theme CAPE and with a vague date of “April 2022?”
They got more bullish on going forward as the year went on, announcing special guests and event details – but there’ve been a lot of ups and downs in recent months.
As Omicron raged late in the fall, the Sauves said that “due to the uncertainty of what the provincial government mandates and protocols will be in April, we will not be selling any advance tickets at this time.”
But, they were feeling fairly certain that, ultimately, this spring, CAPE would return, saying “we know the love and support that this community has for these events and we remain very confident that we will finally (have the events) after a two-year hiatus.”
Randy Sauve on Wedneday said “we’ve been creeping along (at the organizational level), we take all our leads from the health unit and the city (which operates the Benson Centre).”
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Sauve said he was very happy with the fairly recent development that vaccine passports are no longer required – “I don’t want to have to check vax passports (at CAPE) and now I don’t have to worry about that.”
Later this month, mask mandates will be dropped, and it’ll be just around the time of CAPE when the province plans on dropping all remaining pandemic-related measures.
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CAPE 2022 – especially the ‘after party,’ has a Remember the 80s theme, because, well, surely everyone loves the 80s.
“(The 80s) are fun,” Sauve said. “That whole decade was cool, (and) this store (Fantasy Realm) opened in 1985.”
And several of this year’s special guests were involved in hits during the 80s; CAPE 2022 will roll out the red carpet for guests including Amanda Bearse, who was a star of the popular TV show Married… with Children, as well as William Ragsdale (Fright Night, Fright Night Part 2), Scott Patterson (Gilmore Girls, Saw IV, Saw V), Abby Hagyard (You Can’t Do That on Television), Yanic Truesdale (Gilmore Girls), and guest artist Dan Day.
Other artists, cosplayers, exhibitors and attractions will be featured, with more information to be released as the weekend draws closer.
The organizers have announced several CAPE-related events and projects, including the CAPE 2022 After Party at the Best Western Parkway Inn and featuring the SamHill Band – performing for the first time in a dozen years.
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And, they’ve announced that five CAPE Ambassadors will be chosen, “energetic and enthusiastic individuals (to) help spread the word about CAPE, post on social media, share photos or video to create excitement and enjoy perks associated with CAPE.”
The last time CAPE was held, in the spring of 2019, over 4,000 people in two days visited the Benson Centre. In its prior years, it set attendance records for the largest event ever to be held at the Benson Centre.
Last mid-August, at the Fantasy Realm store on Pitt Street, there was a Cornwall Cosplay day, held as part of the store’s free comic book day.The combined event attracted well over 200 people to the downtown core, and it had many attendees expressing their hope that CAPE would finally return in the spring.
CAPE quickly became one of the biggest events each year in Cornwall, one of the best years being in the spring of 2018, when, over a two-day period, a record crowd of over 6,000 took in all the sights and sounds and activities on Pad One at the arena.
The Sauves organized the first Cornwall CAPE event in 2015.
And despite all the time off, vendor spots on the Benson Centre floor for this year’s edition are going fast – Carol Sauve said just a handful of them remain available. She said vendors who were booked for 2020 automatically got their spot, and note that anyone holding tickets for two years ago can use them to get into CAPE next month.
For more information on this year’s event, visit www.cornwallpopevent.com.
