Unfortunately, here is another local event that I will not be attending to in the foreseeable as well.
My initial feelings about their organization was mediocre, especially for not ID-ing and only asking my business name as I picked up my badges. Upon seeing the map and my table, there was no "pin yard," merely the fused artist alley/pin yard area. That wasn't too much of an issue but I started to noticed that what they had advertised/boasted and described was very different from their set expectations. They did not really feature anyone in this alley and while I understand this is primarily a toy event, they should have still shared artists in the alley on their social media. There was virtually no interested attendees for the alley after 1pm on Saturday and basically all day Sunday.
Their targeted audience was certainly for toy makers but they did not put much effort into introducing the crowd for pin makers and artists in the alley, as majority of the attendees left after purchasing what they came for, mostly exclusive/limited merchandise in the toy area. Following that, their original venue closed down and I understand they have no control over that but poorly chose pride parade weekend to hold this event as well. Their original dates for the event were another weekend. They chose this warehouse location but did not provide proper ventilation and air conditioning on a 90 degree day in a musty stagnant location full of sweating attendees, staff and vendors. Having 2, sure, relatively large 6ft fans on site helped but there weren't nearly enough for the room let alone the whole warehouse. Not to mention that they performed a spray can art battle indoors which severely effected my companions respiratory conditions. I love the idea of art battles and showcasing art but in this case, it should have been held outside or in a well ventilated area.
The heat was so unbearable that I developed a heat migraine and nausea. The staff did nothing really the first day to even improve the conditions and the following day, merely provided some small window sized fans in select areas and complementary iced coffee in the morning to vendors. Not once did any event staff checked in on myself or my neighbors from what I experienced.
Later in the day, my neighbor and I discovered a true fire hazard where the large fan was leaking water and pooling around the plug on the floor. We did of course report it and the staff member who handled the "solution," which was to not even unplug it yet but leave it on, move it forward out of the pool of water until he propped the exposed plug part of the extension on an chair.
If that wasn't enough reason, I've spotted several large cockroaches roaming around and a sinful 4 digit monetary penalty for packing up and leaving the event early. I have seen penalties for leaving early before at my other conventions and events but none to this hostile extent. It's hard not to think that they didn't know that the crowd was going to be this horrible or exclusive to their toy makers and not expect that vendors wouldn't leave early due to the conditions we were all placed under.
This is the worst event I've attended so far disappointingly with my initial excitement for the non-existent "pin yard" and I will not be coming back. Not even an apology or a decent effort to care was made.
• ZeroSpace•
337 Butler St
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Saturday, June 25 - Sunday, June 26, 2022
✧ Chizu Works @Table K1 ✧
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