Ok, our local “Comic-Con” is a whole lot smaller than San Diego‘s, but it sure is a whole lot of fun and growing every year. The event also shows what one 20 year old young woman can do when she sets her mind to it! These young people know how to put on an event! And how to publicize it! Kudos and more kudos!

Yvonne Tirado, who is now 24, along with her team of six, just finished producing the fourth edition of Mazatlán’s “TomodachiFest,” a conference and “festival multicultural” that attracts young adults from at least three states who are passionate about anime, hip hop music, manga, comics, medieval arts and cosplay. I’ve been wanting to go for the past few years, but life didn’t let me attend until this year. And oh what energy and fun it was!

In my day we would maybe call these kids “geeks,” but here they call them “freaks.” They are largely highly intelligent, fun-loving and very creative young people who love fantasy, invest large amounts of time and talent in handcrafting costumes and memorabilia, and who are in seventh heaven once a year thanks to Yvonne and her team. The event this year took place on Saturday October 14th at the Convention Center from noon till 8pm. It was attended by well over 1100 people, mostly young adults, but also including children and families of “freaks.” Below are the poster and full program for this year’s event, as well as a photo of the t-shirt and main stage. Click on any photo below to enlarge it or view a slideshow.

TomodachiFest (“tomodachi” means “friend” in Japanese, and Japan is, of course, birthplace of anime, manga and cosplay) Mazatlán came to be because Yvonne and her friends were complaining that local conferences offered nothing of interest to young adults. They decided to change that, and despite being full-time students with little to no budget, they birthed the festival. They continue to produce the festival as volunteers.

The high energy event has several things going on at the same time. There are projections of movies and Asian pop music; a karaoke singing contest as well as a dance and cosplay/costume contests; presentations by YouTubers, illustrators and actors who dub films; workshops in drawing, crafts, medieval archery, and ink drawing; and autograph events; and several video game tournaments throughout the day; and a medieval tournament that was held outside in the late afternoon.

The contests have celebrity judges who come from out of town, and the costumes really blew me away. I’m used to seeing incredible cosplay outfits in Japan, but here in Mazatlán, where I know everyone has to make their own costumes and equipment, it truly was impressive.

There is an exhibition hall for the conference, where those attending can buy memorabilia—some of it handmade, comics, and apparel. There were also several computer stations set up for the video game contests.

I had a chance to speak with Alon Ramirez, the internationally known creator and illustrator of “Chico Detergente,” about his work. Born in Culiacán and a former resident of Mazatlán, he now lives in Tepic:

There was a long line for Alon’s autograph, and he took time to sign every one quite memorably:

Congratulations to everyone involved in TomodachiFest Mazatlán! You are shining examples that an individual and a handful of talented souls can, indeed, make a difference!