The NorCal Fall Winter Cosplay Gathering took place at Central Park / Lake Elizabeth on December 3, 2016 in Fremont, CA. I heard about this event through my longtime con colleague, Eurobeat King at Kraken Con. The event drew in a few hundred attends on a nice and warm late autumn’s day. I took BART to get to the meet up and then took a rideshare to get to the location. After walking around and nearly getting lost, I ran into a few Diablo cosplayers who showed me our little corner at Lake Elizabeth park.

It’s been years since I attended a cosplay style picnic. The set up here was simple. There were picnic tables aplenty. With a $5 admission that got you access to unlimited food, drinks, and snacks. Even so, there were plenty of leftovers for the taking. It’s very easy to mingle and talk to people. The group here was on the younger side from mostly anime fandoms. There were a few Disney princesses scattered around. I was cosplaying as Nico from Love Live in her Christmas version because I figured people would be festive for this year end cosplay meet up.

There were a few events ran by the organizers at the picnic. There was a raffle for those who pre-paid for the gathering. There was also a Legend of Zelda cosplay contest. Most events were fairly low key and voluntary. In contrast to the Boston cosplay picnics, everyone came out for the cosplay contest and various cosplay games. However, the park was large enough where you can create your own fun.

There were some lovely locations for cosplay photoshoots. There were plenty of guys with cameras taking photos of cosplayers by the lake. The lake provided some nice scenery. If I had a Tales of or anything JRPG related, this would be a perfect spot to take some woodland and nature photos. This was also a nice park to take a walk around the lake as well.

Overall, my first NorCal Fall Winter Gathering went well. I have been out of the NorCal cosplay and convention scene for years. It was great meeting new people and catching up with old friends. If you are considering checking out future gatherings at the Fremont site, it is a pretty big park and it might take some time finding the site, but its well worth it. If you’re driving the GPS will take you to one side of the park, but keep driving until you see an abandoned water park. The meet up point is right by there.  If you are taking BART to Fremont, take a rideshare via Lyft or Uber. The walk from the station is not as friendly. However, people here are generally friendly. Also, have your phone charged…a friendly chat can turn into selfie time!

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