Crystal Fair

By years – photos, videos, and reports

About the event

Crystal Fair took place on the first weekend of July 2014, from Friday morning to Sunday evening. The venue was Finlandia Hall for the con program and Nosturi Concert Hall for musical performances.

Most weekend MLP conventions start on Friday night or Saturday morning, but Crystal Fair offered an extra day of the program. The venue was large and, in addition to the official program, offered space for various spontaneous events. The event place would accommodate twice as many participants.

In addition to the party on Saturday evening, there was a classic con program: guest panels, workshops, music games, competitions of all kinds, lectures by community guests presentations and interviews, autograph sessions, cosplay competition, and other activities. They had two guests from the original production of MLP: FiM, who were in Europe for the first time, and the enthusiasm of the participants corresponded to that. Many vendors were also present.

Saturday night a music party called “Operation Pon3” with concerts and performances by both bands and solo musicians took place. In addition to musical activities, there was also a space for meetups with both participants and musicians.

The Crystal Fair was more expensive than other events, but the experience was worth it. For a first-time con, it was organized in a highly professional manner. Many fans were looking forward to the next year, including those who did not attend in 2014. Unfortunately, another year never took place.

Crystal Fair was organized by the non-profit organization Suomen bronyt ry (Bronies of Finland, registered association).

History

Since the con was held only once, relatively little is known about its history. The organizing association was established in October 2012 and originally Crystal Fair was planned for 2013 with great enthusiasm around it, but due to various problems, it was postponed to 2014.

Despite complaints about the high price and the occasional glitches, which cannot be avoided by any convention, the event was very successful from the point of view of visitors. However, shortly after its end, a message appeared on Twitter that it would not take place in 2015.

The organizers then went silent and the Crystal Fair in Helsinki did not take place again.

Mascot

The mascot of Crystal Fair is Aurora – a unicorn pony in a light and darker color of snow with a white-blue mane. Her cutie mark is aurora borealis and she is at home in Lapland in northern Finland.