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June 25th, 2019 
Mako-chan 
One of our favorite conventions to attend annually is CloverCon, an anime themed not for profit convention run by the Somerset County 4-H anime and manga club. It’s small and intimate, a great place to hang out with friends, and a throwback to the good ol’ days, when cons were run out of the love of the fandom.
This year’s convention took place on Sunday May 19th, and they lucked out with amazing weather yet again. As per the last few years, a volleyball net and some picture cutouts were on hand as well as their ever-popular labyrinth to walk through. For those that wanted to take advantage of Pokémon Community Day, the 4-H Center’s sign had been turned into a pokestop since the previous year, so that was an added plus for outdoor activities.
As for the con type activities themselves, as in years past, there was an amazing room set aside for quite manga reading. The library has a pretty large collection of various genres, and there is definitely something there for everyone.
The artist alley and dealer’s hall were once more combined in the gymnasium area. The layout was much easier to walk through then in years past, and allowed for those that weren’t watching the cosplay catwalk to still walk around to view the tables and make purchases.
There was also the traditional room put aside for anime video where you could sit and watch episodes from Wolf Children, xxxholic, and more curtesy of FUNimation. Also, the entire second floor was set aside for video games and table top games. And finally, for traditional areas, the café was once more set up and run by the Chinese culture club. Some of the food did sell out, but they were right on top of bringing in more for the very hungry attendees.
The cosplay catwalk was in its best year yet! They set aside space for prejudging so that the time spent for the actual cosplay catwalk was just for last minute judging and showing off to the audience. From an attendee point of view, this caused the entire event to seem to run much more smoothly and kept the crowding down. They also have gained a sponsor for their catwalk in Arda Wigs!
For guests, once more the amazing Michele Knotz was brought back. This year she did the game show, I Know that Voice! curtesy of The Manly Battleships. She also teamed up with Mike Pollock for M&M Non-Candy-Coated Theater Hour, allowing audience members to come up and do some impromptu scrip reading of some classic Aesop’s Fables.
Also, on the schedule, returning from past years was Adam Hennesy and his Anime Parliament panel, an audience participation panel setting various anime, manga, or other geekery against judge and jury and setting the greatest issues and blunders up for defense. Always a fun and entertaining panel. Also back was Charles Dunbar, presenting Supernatural Smackdown! An audience participation panel in which you judge which monster would win a grudge match.
Pros of this con, well, everything. It’s small and intimate. The cosplay is on point, and people aren’t afraid to really get into some fun and elaborate outfits. The staff and volunteers are super helpful and really look forward to putting on a great show every year.
My only gripe of this con was a lack of Pokémon Go community day anything. With a pokestop right at the convention, and not having to travel, I was really hoping the con would do something to remind the attendees that it was Community Day, and that they had access to a stop without having to leave the area.
Please join us next year at this wonderful event. It will be their 10th anniversary, and I hear they’re thinking up some fun stuff to celebrate. I can’t wait!
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