Godzilla Fest, the place where G-Fans unite

Basically if you're in the Chicago area in July of 2019, or if you feel inspired to make the trip, I would encourage anyone who is not familiar to join with the fans for G-Fest.

Over the last 11 years without fail it has been the most cherished outing for me and my brother as we've shared our love for the kaiju genre together.  Thanks to the efforts of JD Lees and his inner circle of hard working, passionate friends and associates, thousands of fans like us have been blessed to share screenings of the films with hundreds of cheering fans, watched super talented artists display their fan works and build amazing kaiju suit recreations for the costume parade, met kaiju and tokusatsu actors, directors, composers and more, including one of the happiest events of my life this last summer getting to meet Megumi (Miki Saegusa) Odaka, and generally getting to know fans as friends and making connections you'll cherish for a lifetime.

That alone has been a true blessing to me, getting to meet young fans and encourage them, letting them know that they're not alone in their joy of the fandom, including one young man I met from England who was thrilled to learn he was amidst a sea of friends for the first time in his life.

So far this year the only confirmed guest for the next convention is Alan Maxson who plays motion capture for King Ghidorah's right head in the new film, but there are always lots of great people to get to meet.  I'm especially proud of meeting Akira Takarada and being playfully punched in the face by him, one of the nicest gentlemen you could ever hope to meet who we expect to have again this next year.

Point is if you can make it I heavily recommend it.  I've made friends and known beautiful people I'll always cherish there, been enriched as a kaiju fan and shared the best times in my life with my brother and wife, so if you can make it happen and love meeting positive, happy kaiju fans you gotta do it.  You won't regret it, and hope to see you there.