Today I’m going to tell yall about the photo gauntlet.
Dragoncon 2002’s masquerade was not my first costume contest, but as it was my first Dragoncon, it was my first time participating in their masquerade. Ash and I signed up just for fun, because – back then, we ALWAYS did some kind of costume contest (we’d done Urd and Skuld in the hall costume contest at Otakon just a couple of weeks before.) It was just the thing to do, since we were costumers.
I was in my first version of Padme’s Lake dress, and Ash was in the “everybody has worn it once” quick Leia costume that got passed around for several years.
I’ve always said that Dragoncon’s masquerade is one of the finest run I’ve ever participated in. (I’m going to guess it’s still the same, haven’t done it since 2006!) The whole thing went wonderfully smooth, we enjoyed watching the other contestants from backstage and were awed by all the other costumes and getting to see them up close.
So they announce the winners, we applaud them and then we figure we’re free to go, like every other contest, right? Nope. They round us up and take us down a back hallway. Ash and I were tired and ready to go at that point, so since we’d already gathered our stuff and were angling to get out of there, we ended up second in this line.
The volunteer at the door tells us to walk slowly and to stop at each X. Just follow the path. We had no idea what was in store for us as she opened that door.
They had transformed the ballroom into a red carpet. On either side of the taped-off walkway, were photographers, in some places 5-6 people deep, all wanting photos of you. I have no photos that truly describe what it felt like – but it was completely overwhelming and AWESOME.
This is probably the best photo I have us – from Patcave:
We walked slowly and stopped at each X, turning as people shouted for us and going blind from flashes. We got to the next set of doors, expecting to just walk into the crowd – only to find another volunteer directing us to another marked path, and even more photographers!
It was really amazing and I’ve never experienced anything else like it. The next two years they moved it over to the Civic Center, and while they had the photo line-up, it was much smaller as people were trying to get shuttles back to the hotels already. Dragoncon 2005-2006 they moved us to a stage afterwards.
The photo gauntlet is one of my fav memories from any Dragoncon.
Next story, the flood of the dealer’s room.