NORTH BATTLEFORD — The Dekker Center played host to the BEATS Encounter Comic-Con Youth Expo on May 18.
Youth from across the city and region came out, many in their finest cosplay regalia, to socialize and be celebrated for their talents and achievements.
The Youth Expo, sponsored in part by the Rotary Club, was this year’s showcase and fundraising event for the BEATS Experience program, whose goal is to highlight and develop the creative talents and skills of local youth.
Program co-ordinator, Jessica Olsen, explained the goals of the BEATS Encounter program.
“Beats stands for Building Expression and Awareness Through Theater and Sound. It helps kids go from 'destructive' to 'constructive' [in their lives] through creative means.”
By working with kids' individual creative interests, whether it be art, music, photography. etc., the program's goal is to help build the youth’s positive mindset by cultivating and applying their creative talents and skills to their lives in a positive and constructive way. The highlight each year is a large event such as this year’s Comic-Con Youth Expo.
And this year, with the lifting of COVID restrictions the kids were certainly “all in.”
Along with vendors, food trucks, art and music, as well as a performance by comedian Big Daddy Taz, the highlight of this year's event was a large Comic-Con style cosplay competition with a grand prize of $500 in local gift certificates. Big Daddy Taz, Mayors David Gillan and Ames Leslie and local media personalities performed the duties of celebrity judges.
After a large cosplay show, and some intense deliberation, the grand prize winner crowned was, perhaps fittingly, Wonder Woman. A positive role model for young women everywhere.
