Retro Con pushes ahead with new organizer in preparation for May event in St. Joseph
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Amid changes to event production, St. Joseph Retro Con will still be held as initially planned.
Hawkins Event Consulting and Logistics, based in Kansas City, will now be overseeing all aspects of Retro Con which will be held from Saturday, May 2, to Sunday, May 3 at Civic Arena on 100 N. Fourth St.
The decision to change event production comes after a fallout with an individual no longer associated with Fanarchy Media.
"This is a community driven event and we really want to show that. Events like Retro Con are big and need to continue to happen especially in places like St. Joseph," Matthew Hawkins, the owner of Hawkins Events Consulting, said. "We don't want to disrupt and let people down even more, I think it would be a bigger disservice. You can't let one bad apple spoil the bunch. It would be easier to refund vendors (their) money and call it quits, but it's not fair to everyone else."
Despite the changes in leaderships, Retro Con will still be held as is with all previously announced guests and vendors still set to be in attendance. The only changes will be new policies made to protect attendees and not alter the function of the event.
When the change in Retro Con's leadership was first announced, a few vendors had questions and concerns promoting the details of refund policies. The message Hawkins Events echoed during this time was providing transparency and honesty.
"We wanted to provide full transparency moving forward. It's really important to utilize upfront honesty to have trust established," Matthew said. "I don't understand why it's such a hard concept for people to understand. If you are honest with people, it will go a long way. We had a couple vendors reach out asking what our refund policy will be if they choose to leave. I told them I have to go through all the contracts and see what the verbiage says, but we also don't want to pressure people to come if they don't feel comfortable."
Anyone seeking additional information or questions regarding the changes can visit their Facebook Page or email staci@hawkinsevent.com.
