Stacking Up at Romeocon III 2024

Presented by: Encore and Midwest Collectibles

When & Where: Nov. 9th-10th at the Romeoville Athletic Center, Romeoville, IL

Website: RomeoCon 2024 | Home

In the small suburban town of Romeoville, IL, at the local event/athletic center in the middle of town, a great convention has been held for the last 3 years. This convention is called Romeocon. Romeocon sports a wide array of vendors, guests, panels, and even cosplay contests, all at a very reasonable price. With ticket prices ranging from $10 for a single-day pass to $30 for a VIP badge that includes both days, this is by far the lowest-charging sizable convention in the greater Chicagoland area. Convention lovers can find smaller events, or similar ones too, but usually not at this price!

Being a fan of many different things, this writer had to make his way to the convention and see what was in store!

A Brief History of Romeocon

Romeocon is actually very new to the town because this is literally only its third year running. And while this year was much bigger than previous years, the growing interest in this amazing convention shows! I had the pleasure of going to the other two Romeocon years, and this year, the expanded floor space, and use of the second room, made this convention much more appealing than driving into the city of Chicago for one of the conventions held there.

This convention has been driven by a local game store called Midwest Collectibles, and its owner, Rich, who has a passion for all things nerdy, game related, and looking to give people a great experience at a low price. Another big player in the convention’s expansion this year is the auction and bidding app called Encore.

But enough about the history, let's get into this year’s convention!

But why go to this event?

This year’s convention sported a great selection of actors and actresses, including voice actors, wrestlers, and even a couple of Power Rangers! The guest list included voice actors from hit anime shows like One Piece, My Hero Academia, and Dragonball Z, as well as a few wrestlers like Ted “The Million Dollar Man” Dibiase, “The Boogeyman,” Zilla Fatu, and Chavo Guerrero Jr. Panels were held for a variety of the guests to be able to talk about their experiences and even take questions from the audience members. The celebrities each had tables where convention goers could walk up and meet the individual celebrity, get pictures with them, and have their collectibles signed, all for a small and reasonable price.

The convention being held between two rooms allowed the celebrities and vendors to have a bit more room for lines and attendees to walk, while the second room housed the artist alley and the panel area. In all, there were 19 celebrity guests, about 50 vendors, and around 30 artists, all of whom had plenty of space to show off their work, sell their items, or even just to sit and talk with attendees. The costume contests were held in the panel areas so that all the attendees had plenty of space to watch, clap, and enjoy the array of costumes that each contestant strained all year to create, perfect, and show off, to hopefully walk home with a prize!

While the convention is cool, the town of Romeoville is also home to plenty of eateries and is nestled next to a few other areas that have plenty of food, nightlife, and events. Just to the southern side of Romeoville is Joliet, which is home to the Old Joliet Haunted Prison, which was an actual prison, but has since converted to a haunted attraction each year around the same time as Romeocon! The Old Joliet Haunted Prison

To the north of Romeoville, visitors would find the well-known city called Naperville. Naperville has a great downtown, where you can walk around and enjoy food, drinks, and even just sit next to the riverside. Naperville's Riverwalk is a Place of Beauty | The City of Naperville

But if you do not want to go that far, the convention is held in an athletic center that shares a parking lot with a great pizza place called Fat Ricky’s. This place has great pizza, pasta, and even burgers and fries! You can find Fat Ricky’s website here: Fat Ricky's | Italian Restaurant in IL

While this year’s Romeocon was bigger than last year, I can only hope that this convention will keep gaining traction and become even bigger next year!

The Wrap Up

This convention, while small and out in suburban Romeoville, IL, still had some pretty awesome celebrity guests, amazing vendors (both local and national), as well as some outstanding artists, all attending this event. Attendees are welcomed at the door with helpful and awesome staff, willing to point anybody in the right direction. While this convention is not as big as others in the Chicagoland area, it is the best band for your buck when it comes to cost and location. Parking is free, the location is on iconic Route 66, and it is chalked full of fun toys, collectibles, panels, and smaller events (like a DJ who did a trivia game at his booth every couple of hours).

If November comes around next year, and you are looking for a fun little convention to fill in some missing time, and you happen to be in the Chicagoland area, I would highly recommend stopping by this cool event and then checking out some of the nice areas that Romeoville and the other local cities have in store.