It’s hard to believe, but Gross Card Con is turning 10 this year! The upcoming show, which serves to celebrate its 10th anniversary, is shaping up to be the largest gathering of GPK artists ever. Gross Card Con will take place May 30th & 31st at the Ahern Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. Like last year, GCC will take place inside the PokeKon show.
The highlight of every GCC is the artist lineup appearing at the show. This year’s group will be the largest gathering of current and former official GPK artists ever at one show. The artist lineup features numerous final card artists past and present, running from OS-modem GPK. There are also plenty of the top sketch artists, many making their GCC debuts. Leading the way is OS artist James Warhola, along with GPK final card artists Smokin Joe McWilliams, Neil Camera, Rory McQueen, Mike Stephens, and Lowell Isaac. Current GPK sketch artists scheduled to attend are David Acevedo, Jason Crosby, Fox Layng, Chad Scheres, Eddie Rhodes III, Barry Nygma, Shane Garvey, and Julie Kuaniver. Former GPK final card artists and Magic Marker Inc. owner Mark Pingitore will also have a booth at the show. Other former GPK artists in attendance include Pat Chaimuamg, Michael Bernard, and Jay O’Leary. Topps artist Halsey Camera is also one of the featured artists. There will also be a number of current sketch artists in attendance at the show; Adam Edwards, Terry Gordon, Jeff Cox, Albino Ryno, Ad Rock, and Jason Bryant. While they won’t all have a table you will find them around the show, some will even have special cards with them for the show. That’s 23 current and former GPK artists who will be at the show!
Of course that is not all. Clint Coleman and family, owners of GPK & Wacky Warehouse, (also promoter of GCC), will have plenty of GPK merchandise available to purchase. GetAGrip will be in attendance once again making deliveries of their popular GPK Mart preorders. Artist Will Green will be with the All C’s table representing Garbage Island with some of his own GPK inspired merchandise for sale.
You want more? Ok, the there will once again be the traditional show set featuring the artist’s GPK take on Pokémon characters. This year’s set features 15 cards, plus official GPK promo card from artist Rory McQueen. Show sets have 1:5 odds of receiving a sketch card. Additionally, each show set comes with a raffle ticket for prizes that will be announced Sunday at noon. You can purchase your show set from the GPK & Wacky Warehouse table at the show. There will also be a special limited edition Cracked Ice card by James Warhola to help celebrate 10 years of GCC. Cards are gold foil stamped out of /100.
Still more? Those that attended last year’s show will remember the tight space that housed all the artists in attendance. So how will this super sized lineup fit? This year the majority of GCC will be on the second floor with their own dedicated space. You’ll still want to checkout the main floor as there will be a few artists and vendors there as well. Part of the main GCC area will have their own dedicated stage! There will be a full lineup of events taking place through Saturday & Sunday of the show. There will be Pack Wars, two artist chats (one each day), a live artist jam, live breaks and more! The artist jam will have each artist contribute to one giant piece that will be auctioned off Sunday at the show, with proceeds going to the artists. Collectors will be sick of hearing my voice as I’ll be hosting a number of the planned events all weekend! The final stage schedule will be announced soon.
Still need more GPK that weekend? How about the traditional Saturday night dinner? The dinner is scheduled once again for Evil Pie on Saturday night from 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM. This ticketed even allows for collectors and your favorite artists to mingle while enjoying all you can eat pizza, salad, meatballs, wings, drinks, and more. Sadly tickets for the event are sold out. Collectors who have already purchased a dinner ticket will need to collect their ticket from the GPK & Wacky Warehouse table on Saturday, as collectors must have a ticket to attend. Collectors attending the dinner will receive an exclusive card done by artist Mike Stephens.
If you haven’t make your Vegas plans yet, it’s not too late! Collectors are in store for a full weekend of GPK events! The show is open Saturday 5/30 and Sunday 5/31 from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. VIP ticket holders can enter the show one hour early each day at 9:00 AM as well as attend the Friday preview night from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM. Tickets for each day of admission or the VIP ticket can be purchasedw at the PokeKon website. You can find out more information about GCC from the GPK & Wacky Warehouse website and Facebook page. This show is not to be missed for all GPK collectors!