People trickled in for a look at NMU’s first-ever College Con, and while the turnout wasn’t exactly extraordinary, many participants at the NMU bookstore saw room for the event to grow in the
coming years.

From 1 to 4 p.m., College Con offered all community members the chance for free merchandise, a look at the art contest entries.
General merchandise Manager Jenny Dusenbery acknowledged that it’s a pilot program for the NMU branch and already can see what can happen for next year’s College Con.

“I think if we got more of the clubs involved it would be a pretty cool thing,” Dusenbery said. “It’s something other colleges have done and we wanted to try it.”

The art contest showcased fan art from all different types of pop culture and even with the less than stellar attendance, Dusenbery is still thankful that artists have College Con as an outlet.
“It’s a fun idea, just showcasing a different kind of art that is typically not showcased,” Dusenbery said.

Scheduling and the potential of the future new bookstore is something that can also help in the future. Junior computer art major and bookstore employee Donnie Huntze takes the recent changes into account when it comes to the event attendance.

“I think that it has the potential to be a big event if it’s not a Thursday,” Huntze said. ”Right now, we’re really split but once we’re in one place again, we’ll have more room for everything and everything will be a lot better.”

Recently, the bookstore was split between the University Center where apparel is still located, and West Hall houses everything textbook-related.

As the Bat signal leaves the sky and the Man of Steel returns to the Fortress of Solitude, NMU Bookstore is ready to come back next year with a stronger and more involved College Con.

“I would like it to become a bigger event. It draws a diverse group of people in,” Dusenbery said.