Bay Ridge proudly geeks out for first annual Brooklyn Geek Fest

Brooklyn geeks rejoiced!

It was a great day for Bay Ridge to ‘nerd out’ as the neighborhood finally hosted its first video game/comic book convention, the Brooklyn Geek Fest, on Saturday, April 1.

Hosted by local vintage video game store Gotham City Games, 503 84th Street, and held at the Best Western Gregory Hotel, 8314 Fourth Avenue, the event converted the venue into a geek haven as hundreds of locals and fans from all over the boroughs gathered for some gaming, cosplay, shopping and indulging in their passions for tech-y fun.

“I’ve been going to these events two to three years and to finally do your own, it’s a lot of work but, man, is it awesome and it feels great,” said Gotham City Games owner and Geek Fest organizer Ralph Pugliese. “People recognize me on the street. I was ordering pizza the other day and someone said, ‘You’re the guy doing Geek Fest.’ To pull it off finally, it’s really fantastic and we couldn’t be happier with the Gregory Hotel helping us out and the turnout.We probably had over 500 people show up, maybe more. We’re thrilled about it.”

One of the bigger highlights of the event was the costume contest. From the X-Men to Flash to Mario, children and adults dressed up as their favorite mascot and/or superhero in hopes of winning the $100 prize.

“I like seeing the costumes,” said Jackie Skye, dressed as the cartoon character Sailor Moon. She, like many, was happy that the convention was being held in the Ridge. “It’s really cool seeing a con in my area. I’ve traveled down to Virginia for conventions.”

“Thank God there’s one in Bay Ridge,” added Jenn M., who dressed as the Joker’s number one girl, Harley Quinn, and won the adult portion of the cosplay contest. “I don’t have to travel to the city.”

Kids also joined in on the fun. Logan Alzanora and his sister Alexis dressed as iconic Nintendo characters Link and Princess Zelda respectively and took in the whole festive atmosphere. “We are having a great time. My favorite part is the video games,” said Logan, who won the kid’s costume contest. “It feels great!”

“The cosplay was phenomenal,” Pugliese said.

“Ghostbusters characters” also hosted a booth with a slime lab for kids and props from the film. “Star Wars” fans ran into Storm Troopers, Darth Maul and more.

There were also tournaments with famous retro games such as Mario Kart 64, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and more, as hardcore gamers tested their skills for big time prizes.

“The tournaments were a huge hit,” Pugliese added. “They’ve been packed. There have been 200 people in there the entire day playing, and it was huge. We gave away $1,000 worth of prizes.”

Author Patrick Hickey also hosted a panel based on his upcoming book on video games.

Big time shoppers were in luck as vendors selling retro games, toys, comics, and art were in full force.

“The day is going awesome,” said Joe from Nostalgic Bits. “I sold almost half my stuff. It’s amazing. Brooklyn really desperately needed something like this. If you take a look at Comic Con, people want to go to that convention and it’s so popular, tickets sell out in seconds, but to have an event like this on a smaller scale gives people a slice of Comic Con.”

According to Pugliese, it’s cool to be a geek again, and he’s hoping that the big success of Geek Fest will lead to a possible tradition.

“Bay Ridge people are awesome,” he said. “It just shows that Brooklyn is a great base for geekness. We’re going to try to do it bigger and better next year. We’re going to try to do two days next time.”