Marshall County Public Library's 2025 Mini-Con
Get your geek on and fuel your fandom with this free event! Join us on Saturday, July 12th, 2025 at MCPL for our 2nd annual Mini-Con!
MCPL's Mini-Con will be everything you love about a larger con in a setting that you know and love...your local library!
Check out our schedule, guest speakers, authors, vendors, artists, food trucks, and other guests!
PLEASE READ IMPORTANT INFO BELOW!
This year's Mini Con will be held at the Benton branch of the Marshall County Public Library; however, multiple events on the event schedule will be offsite at the Children's Art Center in Benton, KY. MCPL Staff will be present and will be managing the events being held here. This is within walking distance of our Benton branch. On the schedule below, events marked with (CAC) will be held at the Children's Art Center, not at the Benton branch.
Schedule of Events
We may continue to update this page up until the day of the convention. Please check back for the latest details!
10am-4pm (All Day)
- Door prizes
- Vendors, authors, artists (Meeting Rooms A&B)
- Costumed characters, photo ops
- Scavenger hunt (Teen & Fiction Areas)
- Mario Kart (Teen Area)
- Tabletop games (KY Reference Room)
- Retro Games (Birdsong Study Room)
- Children’s crafts/games (Children's Program Room & Area)
- Face Painting (Middle Section of First Floor)
- MCPL's Temporary Ink Lab (Middle Section of First Floor)
- Button Making (Middle Section of First Floor)
- Ghostbusters Car
11am
- Dungeons & Dragons - Session 1 begins (Conference Room)
11:am - 11:45am
- TBA with Davin Belt (CAC)
12pm - 12:45pm
- Fandom trivia (CAC)
12pm - 1pm
- Cosplay signups/judging (CAC)
1pm
- Dungeons & Dragons - Session 2 begins (Conference Room)
1pm - 1:45pm
- Your Fantasy, Your Way: Writing and Publishing on Your Own Terms with JJ Park (CAC)
2pm - 2:45pm
- Bring Your Heroes to Life: Drawing Iconic Characters from Your Favorite Fandoms with Johnny Jones (CAC)
3pm - 3:45pm
- Cosplay Contest (CAC)
4pm - 4:45pm
- Con Karaoke Cool Down (Outdoor Classroom)
Davin Belt
TBA
Davin Belt is the Director of Programming at the Marshall County Arts Commission. He graduated from Murray State with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nonprofit Leadership Management and Theatre Design/Tech. He’s costumed many shows at Murray State University, Playhouse in the Park, Market House Theatre, Purchase Players, Marshall County High School, and the Children’s Arts Center.
JJ Park
Your Fantasy, Your Way: Writing and Publishing on Your Own Terms
JJ Park is a Kentucky native who hordes yarn and plays Dungeons & Dragons. Having made an enemy of brevity, JJ has played the long game since she wrote an essay in the fifth grade about her favorite place in the world. Writing was always seen as a creative hobby for those around her and rarely deemed as a responsible career choice. JJ's first novel was considered by Sheldmedia as "top 100 indie novels of 2024", also an American Fiction Awards finalist for Fantasy/Sci-fi category, and winner of the Storytrade Awards for the Fantasy/Romance category.
Johnny Jones
Bring Your Heroes to Life: Drawing Iconic Characters from Your Favorite Fandoms
Johnny Jones is the art teacher at Marshall county High School. He has helped with the drama department for 18 years and has his Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture and design from SIU. In his spare time, he likes to create his own costumes from characters such as the Mandalorian (Star Wars), Rick Grimes (Walking Dead), and The Wolverine (Marvel).
Hank Collective
ANW Art and Design
Art For You
MC Loop & Co.
King Panda Studio
Greyhawke Gamers Guild
