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June 12, 2017: 39th Annual Superman Celebration Officially Wraps
by Neil Cole
Following an exciting four days of festivities & entertainment, the 39th Annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, IL has officially wrapped and the staff of the Superman Super Site was once again there for the 10th straight year.
The event kicked off with an opening ceremony on Thursday, June 8th with welcome speeches by celebration co-chairs Lisa Gower & Karla Ogle as well as Metropolis Mayor Billy McDaniel and an official ribbon cutting by "Super Miles", winner of the children's online Super Ambassador contest, and Metropolis' official Superman, Josh Boultinghouse.
Other first day activities included music under the main tent featuring the Ball Brothers & Adam Crabb, carnival rides, opportunities to visit both the Super Museum & the Americana Hollywood Museum, and a special presentation titled "Superman - The All American Hero (1941-1966) hosted by John Field.
Friday, June 10th was the first full day of the celebration and saw the arrival of celebrity guests Sarah Douglas (Ursa - "Superman: The Movie," "Superman: II") and Margot Kidder (Lois Lane - The Christopher Reeve "Superman" Films) who was unfortunately running late for the first autograph session of the day and did not arrive until the afternoon session.
While everyone waited in line to meet Kidder during the afternoon session, Douglas was a true saint and would occassionally leave her table and visit with everyone in line to chat and take selfies.
Festival attendees also came out once again in large numbers to attend our 8th Annual Superman Super Site Meet & Greet at the always popular Metropolis restaurant, Fat Edd's Roadhouse. A great time was had by all with door prizes ranging from DVD's & Blurays to movie posters and many other donated items from area merchants.
In addition to the always popular Artists Alley & Writers Way - which featured comic book artist/writer John Ostrander, animator/storyboard artist/illustrator Todd Aaron Smith, and author Gwenda Bond (Lois Lane series "Fallout," "Double Down," and "Triple Threat") - this year's festival also included a few new events including a "Lemon Lane" eating contest and jigsaw puzzle competition as well as the Annual Super-Con that played host to various vendors selling vintage comic books and superhero collectibles.
Other Friday events included the "Superman - The Movie: Restored International Cut" movie event hosted by Jim Bowers at the Baymont Theater followed by an 80's Dance Party under the Metro Tent featuring the extremely talented music group Breakfast Club and the "2nd Annual Metro Rock-n-Retro" rock band and classic video game competition to cap off the evening.
Saturday is always the biggest day of the celebration and this year was certainly no different. Fans lined up to see Margot Kidder and Sarah Douglas who were back at the autograph zone for their second day while others began lining up late Friday evening for the opportunity to snag an autograph session pass to meet both Dean Cain ("Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman") and James Marsters ("Smallville," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") at the Baymont Theater.
Dean was making his second journey to the celebration while Marsters was attending for the first time and both actors were an absolute joy to meet and, in addition to their autograph sessions, huge crowds turned out for a chance to take photos of the two actors at the world famous 15-foot-tall Superman Statue and see them at two separate and highly entertaining Q&A events under the Metropolis Tent.
Other day-three events included the "Save the Massac Benefit Auction" which was followed by an outdoor screening of various episodes of the "Adventures of Superman" from 1953 - 1958 featuring actress Noel Neill. Capping off the day's festivities was the "Noel Neill Hollywood Ball" at the Baymont Theater which featured attendees wearing attire inspired by the 1930's & 40's and music by the Breakfast Club.
Sunday was, sadly, the final day of the celebration and kicked off with a "Superfriends of Metropolis" group photo-op at the Superman statue. Next up was "Name that Movie! with John Field" at the Baymont Theater followed by Superman Super Site contributing reporter, Chris Brockow's popular "Stump the Superman Expert" contest at the main Metropolis Tent which offerred the large crowd in attendance the opportunity to win various prizes by answering Superman trivia questions.
The contest was followed shortly thereafter by the always popular costume contest which featured numerous fans dressing as their favorite comic book, movie, television, and sci-fi related characters. This year's categories included Best Character, Best Custom Character or Original Conception, and Best Group or Duo. We will have a full re-cap of the costume contest posted in the coming days.
The celebration officially ended with an annual closing skit followed by a screening of the "Festival Director's Choice" from the Metropolis Film Festival.
So ends another wonderfully exciting year of the annual Superman Celebration and thus begins the official count down to next years 40th festival which is already being hyped as the biggest celebration EVER!
