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Detroits Fanfare Shuts Up Shop – It's Not Totally Down To Best Western

Long running comic convention, Detroit Fanfare has cancelled its upcoming show in February – and future ones too, along with the Kickstarter appeal that was funding it.

Posting on Facebook, they state,

We regret to inform you that Detroit Fanfare has suspended plans for the upcoming show on February 6-8 at the Sterling Heights Inn.

The convention which was usually held near the Halloween weekend each year was forced to move to its new location because of the changes at the previous hotel, the Adoba (formerly Hyatt) and subsequent proceedings into foreclosure. The Sterling Heights Inn was a Best Western hotel when Detroit Fanfare signed its agreement but just recently, announced it was no longer associated with Best Western.

The organizers of Detroit Fanfare decided not to deal with such uncertainity but cite that was not the only reason for the cessation of the convention. Detroit Fanfare has prided itself on being a convention for artists and fans of comic books over celebrities but in evaluating support and attendance, a large convention cannot remain centered on comics as the primary focus.

Due to the enormous work and costs involved be the principles to put on the convention and the obvious fan preference for the larger, pop culture shows, it was determined that the role of a convention such as Fanfare had a diminished appeal especially in light of all the recent additions to the convention circuit.

The organizers would like to extend a great thanks to the artistic community in the Detroit area who were its greatest supporters. The comic book centric convention idea is one that they embraced with Fanfare but just in the last couple of years has seen a preference from fans for the multi-media shows.

Detroit Fanfare will announce shortly the details regarding the continuitation of the Shel Dorf Awards with the idea that the Awards will live on, hopefully at a convention in the area where comic conventions were initially launched by Shel Dorf.

Answering queries about Kickstarter pledges for the show, they reply,

Everyone was immediately relieved of their pledged when the kickstarter was canceled, in fact no one was charged in the first place. Kickstarter only changes upon completion

While co-organiser Gary Reed has spoken at greater length,

…fans, for as much bitching as they do about the lack of comic shows, still flock to the multi-media shows at 4-5 times the cost. We all realized that Detroit Fanfare would never be a massively large show unless we followed that formula but that's not why Fanfare was started and changing into that kind of show was not something any of us wanted to do. I think the last year or so, Fanfare was defining itself on what kind of show it would be and that was one centered on comics and artists.

So, why is it ending? Well, it started off as something that might be able to continue even with lowered expectations but frankly, it just became too much work. Like myself, Dennis and Tony also have their careers outside of the convention. To all three of us, it was a side job, not a full time one. Anything dealing with the convention was time away from our primary careers. I teach college full time plus spend a great deal of time with the publishing and my writing, so, I was always a part time contributor. Tony's art career has been growing, at first steadily, and then blossoming, that it became increasingly difficult to find enough time to spend with Fanfare. Dennis, being an owner of a comic shop, also has one of the largest comic mail order houses in the country.

That means to work on Fanfare, they had to forego opportunities that would earn them money. In fact, Dennis usually paid for his store employees to staff Fanfare and closed his store during the convention weekend. Also, Dennis is a single parent of two kids and Tony has his family commitments. Fanfare took a lot of time away from family and revenue generating work.

You also have to realize that when you're dealing with a couple of hundred creators, staff members, guests, etc., that is a lot of unique personalities you have to contend with. Everyone has their situation yet as an organizer, you have hundreds of them. The convention also faced a number of problems dealing with the hosting sites. The Hyatt transferring to the Adoba caused all kinds of problems as well as the move to Detroit at Cobo Hall. And while Detroit is overcoming its bad reputation and graft, based on our experiences there, it's easy to see why they developed such a bad reputation. Then the Adoba went into foreclosure—but we had decided to move from there because we knew something was coming.

I know a lot of people are going to be pissed off that the show cancelled, especially with less than two months before the event. But circumstances changed quickly…for one, the Sterling Heights Inn, the new place, was a Best Western hotel when the agreement was signed, but they have just announced that they are no longer affiliated with Best Western. That changes the dynamics and relationship considerably and we already went through that with Hyatt to Adoba. It was decided to forego dealing with some potential problems outside of our control, to just end it. While it was a decision made just now, it was because of an accumulation of things.

Of course, some people will say that this news is unexpected because of the Kickstarter process which signaled problems. That isn't the case at all. The idea of a Kickstarter started with the last convention as we saw other conventions doing it and we evaluated the logic behind it. It was a strategy that was working because about half of the artist alley tables sold via Kickstarter, were from artists who had never attended Fanfare before and became aware of the show because of the Kickstarter. It was doing exactly what was it was supposed to do.

Undoubtedly, there will be criticism for cancelling the show and Dennis and Tony, being the two primaries of the convention, will likely get the brunt of it, but I think instead they should be commended for embarking on the venture in the first place and providing four years of a fun convention.

On a personal level, the convention served as an opportunity for me to meet so many of the local artists which is quite a large and talented lot. And of course, some not so local creators. I also think Fanfare allowed them to cross paths a bit more with each other as well.

So, my feeling is that it is a bit sad that the run is over, but I'm deeply appreciative of the time and relationships that it offered.

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