Częstochowski Dzień Fantastyki VIII

It was around two years age when Częstochowski Dzień Fantastyki (The SFF Day of Częstochowa) appeared on the convention scene in Poland. It is a small, day long event that to my surprise is held four times in a year. Somehow every time they held it I couldn’t go, yet this has finally changed.

Early Morning

There were two options to get to the con from Kraków. I could either go with a bus at ungodly 7:45 AM or with train at 10:16 AM. I surprised even myself by choosing the earlier one. Convention was one day long and I wanted to have enough time to participate in it. Going by train would leave me with little time on site.

The convention was held in a pub located close to the train station. Yet despite short distance it was not so easy to find it. I took an early stop on my way because of an amazing mural. In fact if not for the location I would love to live in that building! A great piece of art! Later when I reached the vicinity of the con I had no idea how to get to the inside of the buildings’ quarter. In the end I had to use satellite view of the neighbourhood to see some way in.

A long mural depicting a few scenes.
I have fallen in love at first sight of this mural.

The Venue Had Some Issues

The Lucky Saloon which hosted Częstochowski Dziń Fantatsyki VIII was not suited for conventions. Organizers did their best to use the available space but it was suboptimal. Programme occupied almost whole upper floor. Room was tightly filled with chairs. It was not comfortable but there was enough space for everyone who wanted to listen to the speakers.

The lower floor posed more issues. There were three things to do there. On one table there were were workshops in miniature figures painting. Next to it there were board games but the space for playing was too dark for doing so. The same space functioned also for social chatting. Dim light build a cool atmosphere, but low hanging lamps obscured the across the table.

Two rows of dealers tables with narrow corridor between them. One person stands in the corridor.
Dealers took over almost whole of the external part of the pub.

The outside of the building had two “zones”. The first was adjacent to the building and covered with a roof. It functioned as delaers room. The space was however too narrow for that, and it was hard to get past other buyers. In the last area there were two tents. First hosted registration desk. The second one was way bigger, and was used for miniature wargaming and video gaming.

A lot of attractions occupied rather small space and it caused some issues. Still around 150 people came and I think enjoyed the con.

Small but Nice Programme

The programme part was small with a single stream of items. Despite that I was able to find a few talks that interested me. The opening item was a meeting with an author of books about history. He talked about fortresses. We learned how to build, attack, defend, and surrender them. Despite this not being my hobby I found it very interesting. Later on I listened to a presentation about Tolkien.

A room full of people sitting on chairs.
Audience during one of the programme items.

After that I headed for lunch with two of my friends. We did some smoffing while eating and on our way back to the con. We wanted to be early enough to manage to listen to Paweł Majka talking about alcohol in SFF. He had just 50 minutes, and it was not enough. Still he managed to cover quite a few fascinating topics. I learned a lot about history, and a bit about literature. I don’t even mind that he didn’t have time to discuss the contemporary SFF works. This was one of the highlights of the con to me.

I decided to skip the following two items and I used the time for socializing with friends, and checking the dealers hall. When I talked with Vinga, Paweł, and Rynvord we one of the organizers approached us. It was the opportunity I was waiting for. I wanted to understand why they hold a few small minicons in a year instead of one lasting for two or three days. It seems that the reason comes from the pandemic. None of the local schools are now willing to host a con. (As I wrote a few years ago hotels are not popular con venues in Poland).

Three people siting around a table and painting figures.
Workshops were quite popular and over the course of the day I saw a few people painting.

I finished my day by listening to a presentation by Łukasz “Sas” Sasuła. It was called “Serious topics in seemingly unserious literature”. I could argue that “Dune” is not meeting the second criterion outlined in the title but I won’t. It was a good presentation and I learned a few interesting things. Should I have an occasion to listen to Sas again I will do so.

Not The End

I lied a bit in a previous paragraph. Although Sas’ talk was the last I listened to it was not the end of my escapade. Once it finished I went down and travelled with friends who were dealers to their RPG shop nearby. I wanted to visit Erpegowe Piekiełko for some time but I didn’t manage to come earlier to Częstochowa. It is a good geeky shop, and I am glad that it opened as a physical shop and not only online one. I stayed there for over an hour and we talked about many things. Before leaving I bought one small RPG booklet and got some gifts. I am grateful very much for the latter and for the opportunity to check the shop!

And then I headed home where I arrived after 11 PM. It was a long but good day. I won’t be a regular at Czestochowski Dzień Fantastyki as travelling for a single day takes a bit too much time. Still I am hoping that local fandom will get the opportunity to run a longer convention which I would gladly visit.

You can find more pictures in my FB gallery.

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