[This is the latest installment of “Cobb Cuisine, Culture and Community” by Brian Benefield]

Holy Cosplay, Batman! If you are into anime, video games, tabletop games, or anything geek pop culture-related, you want to be at this inaugural event coming March 4 to Marietta Square.

This will undoubtedly be a very popular festival, with various gatherings scheduled throughout the day, including a Guild Show that will feature a collection of over fifty artists and makers showcasing their handcrafted wares.

Tournament Alley will be set up on S. Park Square with a wide array of tabletop gaming and card play for gamers of all ages.  

At noon, the premier sponsor, Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop will have a Soda Pop Showdown, where teams will have a blind-tasting competition. The contestants have no idea the flavors they will sip and let the best taste buds win.

Boxwood Social Hall is another sponsor that will be hosting indoor gaming events that will surely be nostalgic for someone like myself who spent endless hours at arcades in my youth pumping quarters into games like Asteroids and Pac-Man.

MomoCon, which originated in Atlanta in 2005 on the Georgia Tech campus, will also have a tent housing video and board games on E Park Square.  Momo translates to Peaches in Japanese, which makes sense in the Peach state and has become a well-known convention that celebrates anime, comics, and video games.

A beloved local clown named Buttons will make the crowds smile at 1 pm by performing juggling, fire-eating, and making balloon animals for the young and the young at heart. 

From 2-4 pm, there will be a Cosplay Costume Contest, which for those unfamiliar, is dressing up as a character from a book, movie, or video game. The judges will give special consideration to those creative types that make their costumes by hand. If I were to enter, which is unlikely, but if I did, my choice would be my favorite comic book character. Spiderman.

As a kid, I thought slinging from buildings with my webs that shot from my wrists and climbing on the side of skyscrapers was nothing short of spectacular. So, thank you, friendly neighborhood Spiderman for starting my love of adrenaline-filled adventures that would continue throughout my entire life.  

Musical artists will be featured on Glover Park Stage from 5-8 pm, including Catherine Strings, who plays the viola and violin. Her repertoire covers not only classical songs but also contemporary soundtracks. Headlining from 630-8 pm to close out the event is The Garage, a band that plays geeky music with heart.  I listened to a few tunes from their 1st full-length album, “Earl Grey, Hot.” The tracks pay homage to the TV show Star Trek and each song is based on an episode that tries to convey the story within the ditty. As I listened to a few of their songs, I felt the positivity from their music about human relationships, love, death, and everything that brings us closer together.

There will be food stalls and trucks to help keep you gaming throughout the day, as well as a plethora of locally-owned restaurants around the square to satisfy any craving.

Many, many events take place at Marietta Square, but this is new, unique, and something different that younger people will gravitate towards, and even older folks like myself who want to re-live their misspent youth in all the geeky nostalgia. Geeks, nerds, dweebs, and dorks make the world go round. So jump on (the game) board and enjoy Marietta The Gathering on March 4th, 2023.