Supernatural in Germany: Purgatory Convention (PurCon) 2018 – Part 1

Editor’s Note: Supernatural conventions are very special weekend events when fans can meet and mingle with each other and the cast of Supernatural. Bettina attended her first Supernatural convention in June. She is very excited to share with you her account of the fun, accompanied by her wonderful pictures!  – Nightsky

I attended PurCon 4 in Düsseldorf, Germany the weekend of June 2–­3. What is PurCon? Tell me more!

PurCon is an unofficial Supernatural convention. It’s called Purgatory, and it hosts approximately 1,200 fans. The first PurCon was back in 2015. I‘ve always wanted to go, and this year I made it! So let me tell you more about my weekend at PurCon 4!

The Guest List:

Felicia Day

Mark Sheppard (only Saturday)

Mark Pellegrino

DJ Qualls

Gil McKinney

Julian Richings

Alaina Huffman

Ty Olsson

Alex Barima

(the date on the brochure was wrong)

I don’t have to tell you that I was nervous; it was my first convention! I’ve been a fan since 2005, but this was my first convention.

Friday

I stayed at the Hilton—the hotel where the convention was. We arrived there on Friday at 2 p.m. After the check-in, it was time to check out the rest of the hotel and the shop. At 4 p.m. the registration lines were longer than the waiting line in hell. But, when it was finally your turn, there was no Crowley or Luci there and you didn’t have to make a deal! You just got your lanyard with your entry ticket and the tickets for your photo ops and autographs. I had a normal ticket for the weekend (there were also VIP, gold, and silver tickets for one day available).

Now it was official, I was at PurCon 4! I also bought a ticket for the concert with Gil, and the ticket for karaoke on Saturday evening. And, of course, I got something from the shop—two necklaces. Why save money, right?

Gil’s concert started on Friday at 8:45 p.m. To be honest, when I bought my ticket I thought, let’s give it a try and see if you like his music. You know, my music taste is more like Dean’s. But when he started to sing, I fell in love with his voice.

My favorite song was “How Was I to Know.” He was on stage with the pianist, Aaron Beaumont, and his guest singer, Amanda Wallace.

After the concert, you could buy his album, “How Was I to Know,” and/or buy a shirt and you could talk to him, Aaron, and Amanda. I wanted to buy something and ask him for a hug. But when it was my turn, there were no more shirts in my size. Guess what I did? I bought one a size bigger and told him that I will try to shrink it in the dryer. We both laughed and I got my hug. He’s one of the sweetest people.

After all that, it was time to head to the bar, and guess who was sitting there? The Prince of Purgatory Ty Olsson, and the one and only DJ Qualls. And yes, I said “Hello” and maybe something else to them. They are like us—normal people who just want a drink at the bar after a long day. It was nice to see them enjoying the evening.