Sci Fi Fantasy Fest coming to Hoover library

If you show up at the Hoover Public Library or Hoover Senior Center on Oct. 21-23, don’t be surprised if you see people dressed up like a Star Wars storm trooper or Master Chief from the Halo video game.

The library is joining forces with the Alabama Phoenix Festival to put on a Sci Fi Fantasy Fest.

The library held its festival for the first time last year and drew about 500 people, but this year officials are expecting 1,500 to 2,000 people, thanks to the partnership with the Phoenix Festival, said Krysten Griffin, a fiction librarian who is chairwoman of the event.

The Alabama Phoenix Festival was first held at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center on U.S. 280 in 2012 and 2013 and moved to the Sheraton Birmingham in 2014. But last year, one of the organizers moved to Missouri, and the event didn’t take place.

So when the Hoover Library proposed a partnership this year, they jumped at the chance, said Stan Daniel, one of the Phoenix Festival organizers and owner of Kingdom Comics in Vestavia Hills.

The festival will include a costume contest, tabletop game demonstrations, costume design talks and many discussion panels on topics ranging from tabletop board games and comics to costuming, Star Wars, Star Trek and Dr. Who, Griffin said.

There also will be two Magic: The Gathering trading card tournaments (7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday) and a Pokemon Walk at Aldridge Gardens from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday. There are a lot of Pokemon items to be caught at Aldridge for the Pokemon Go app, Griffin said.

The festival will be held 7 to 11 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23. It will take up the entire library and the Senior Center, Griffin said.

Regular library patrons not interested in the festival may want to come early Friday or wait until Monday to visit, Griffin said. “Parking is going to be extremely limited, and the library is just going to be full of people, and it’s going to be very loud,” she said.

But if you’re interested in science fiction or fantasy, “it’s going to be a lot of fun, and everyone should come,” she said.

For more information, call the Hoover Library fiction department at 444-7820.