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By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer 

CALERA – With costume competitions, dance parties and vendors, hundreds of guests gathered in the Calera Courtyard for a night celebrating their shared passions at Calera Main Street’s inaugural Nerd Fest on Saturday, Nov. 16.

The festival immersed attendees in a lively celebration of fandom, bringing together anime enthusiasts, K-pop lovers and creatives for an evening of music, art and fun.

According to Calera Main Street’s Deloris Starkey, the idea behind Nerd Fest was to create an event for the nerd-loving residents of Calera to enjoy an event closer to home.

“We chose to have Nerd Fest to not only help bring another event to Calera, but also to have an activity or event for a (different) demographic in Calera,” Starkey said. “There was definitely a need. Everybody goes to Birmingham for other type of events like this, and it was great to have people travel to Calera for this.”

The event featured a K-pop/J-pop dance competition hosted by DJ Nadya, and a cosplay content where attendees could show-off their best handmade costumes for a chance to win up to $250 dollars in prizes.

In addition to the primary events, festival activities sprawled across the entire downtown area with art work on display at multiple Main Street shops and vendor booths in the Collectivus Event Center.

“It went very well,” Starkey said. “We had many guests in attendance throughout the evening. We’re getting positive feedback from the community that this is something they really enjoyed, and that they look forward to us planning another one.”

Calera Main Street’s Trevor Jones shared that his favorite part of the evening was seeing the community enjoying a new event.

“My favorite part of Nerd Fest was just being able to bring it to the community, seeing everybody come in from in Calera and surrounding areas, and being able to enjoy the vendors and everything else we had going on like the dancing,” Jones said. “My favorite part was just seeing the community be engaged with it.”

Those interested in more information about Calera Main Street and their future events can visit Downtowncalera.org.

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