Windsor has been selected as the official host site of a new event being put on by a local collector this fall.
The inaugural Northern National Collectors’ Convention will take place inside the Augustus Tower at Caesars Windsor over three days, from September 29 to October 1, 2023, in tandem with the Windsor Fan Experience.
The inaugural show will be billed as Northern National presents Windsor Fan Experience.
President Jeremy Renaud says the event will feature an array of sports cards, trading cards, pop culture memorabilia, comics and more.
Renaud got his introduction into the industry working on Windsor ComiCon, ascending the ranks to General Manager while also serving as an Assistant General Manager on several Ontario Collectors Conventions, before being named General Manager of Canada’s largest sports card and collectibles show, the Sport Card & Memorabilia Expo which takes place twice annually in Toronto.
During that time, he says he identified that there was no convention in Canada that leads with trading card games from well known brands like Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, and Yu-Gi-Oh!
"So while working on the Sport Card expo and doubling the size of the event and running it through the pandemic virtually, had a dream of starting a TCG convention here in Canada," Renaud continued. "Then put together a business plan and from there looked to launch the convention in my hometown of Windsor, Ontario."
The hybrid convention in partnership with the local Fan Experience will have all the offerings of a pop culture event with celebrities, athletes, and more.
Renaud says he's already booked three guests that will be making their first convention appearances in Windsor from overseas, with hopefully more to come.
"That'll be really exciting for the market. I'm working with a number of different organizations right now to attract guests that have not been to Windsor before. I'm trying to bring guests that no one else has seen in the area, fingers crossed, I'm working on a headliner right now that would be bigger than any guest that we've ever brought in the past."
The announcement for the event took place late last week, and Renaud says the response has been tremendous.
He says people have already been approaching him about the event, and even though registration for exhibitors, sponsors, and artists will officially launch on Thursday he's already at 51 per cent capacity.
"There's been a large interest from both Canada and the U.S. I've had sponsors and exhibitors from the national convention on the sports card side already committing to this event based on the success of that event. In the sport card side there's a lot of brands that we've come to use in sport that also transfer easily well into the non-sport and trading card game side," he said.
Renaud is a professor of sport and recreation management at St. Clair College, and will be leaning on his diverse background in the traditional sport world as well as his history putting on conventions to deliver a unique experience for people in the region.
He is both leading and working with an organizing committee as well, who have collaborated on events in the past across Canada and the US.
Renaud says a market research study has been conducted on the prices of cards and memorabilia in Ontario, Michigan, Ohio and Quebec, and their prices will severely undercut any prices in those markets for a national level event.
It's a family friendly event, with kids aged 14 and under admitted free with a paying adult.
Anyone interested in learning more about the convention can do so on Northern National's website.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi