Otafest Aurora: Calgary’s Winter Otaku Festival

Alas, it’s September, and here I am talking about winter already. Nonetheless, it’s always good to know when Otafest Aurora is so that you can get started on you costumes/cosplay!

Lets begin with the basics. Otafest. What is it? It is a 3-day festival held at the University of Calgary on the May long weekend every year. This festival is jam-packed with anime showings, drawing panels, costume/cosplay competitions, and an amazing vendors hall. If you hadn’t figured it  out yet, this festival is dedicated to Japanese culture, manga and the art of anime. (Don’t forget the video game characters!)

Otafest Aurora is a 1 day festival – a little sister and the winter counterpart of Otafest. This year, on December 15, will be the first time Calgary will have ever had the pleasure of grabbing a glimpse of Otafest Aurora. In previous years, the Otafest staff have worked hard to put together “Otafest Lite” as a winter festival, though patrons have contributed many helpful suggestions. And with all these suggestions came a completely new, revamped and better than ever before Otafest. You asked, and the Otafest Staff listened. Here are a few features of this new festival:

• larger vendor hall than Ota-lite
• larger artists alley
• a sophisticated gala and dance (*never before seen*)
• more panels

Now, some of you might claim you’re not “interested” in Japanese culture, or anime and the likes -but don’t tell me you never watched Sailor Moon, Digimon, Cardcaptor Sakura or Pokemon growing up. If you got to Otafest Aurora this December, I can guarantee that you will see a plethora of Pikachus. Why not relive your childhood? Or better yet, if you have never heard of any of these things and don’t have a clue as to what I’m referring to – go on adventure! Experience something new! It’s worth it. I first heard of Otafest in 2008 – which was the first year I attended. I have since fallen in love, and attend every year.

There’s something for everyone, even you uber volunteers. Otafest requires hundreds of volunteers every year to make it tick, if you’re interested in volunteering at Otafest in the 2013 year, be sure to email volunteer@otafest.com! Not only are the attendees great, but the staff and volunteer coordinators are wonderful too. Otafest was actually one of the first events I had ever volunteered at, and it paved the way for my future volunteering endeavours. Without Otafest, I might not be a YAA blogger, and you would have never heard of this opportunity.

So whether you’re volunteering or not, I highly encourage you to attend Otafest and/or (preferably and) Otafest Aurora this year. It’s a great way to expose yourself to different cultures and to meet great people. For more information on Otafest and Otafest Aurora, you can visit their site – but be warned : Because Otafest Aurora is a completely new event, the site is still in need of updates.