This weekend, everybody can be Charlie Bucket.
Like the character in the classic film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” all you need is a golden ticket, free at that, to enter the inaugural Cajun Con.
The brainchild of event producer Scott Innes, Cajun Con will bring together 85 pop culture stars, 200 vendors and myriad fans under one roof for two days at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, 9039 S. St. Landry Ave., Gonzales.
Meet Julie Dawn Cole, from left, Peter Ostrum and Paris Themman, all cast members from ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,’ at the first Cajun Con in Gonzales.
Agewise, those young enough to think Johnny Depp (2005) or even Timothée Chalamet (2023) was “Chocolate Factory’s” first Willy Wonka and those old enough to know it was Gene Wilder (1971) will all have must-see stops at the generations-spanning event. And they’ll probably share at least one.
“We’re building a ‘Wonka’ set that’s really going to be a fun set to get an autograph in,” Innes said, noting that most stars do charge a separate fee for a photo or autograph.
Speaking of “Chocolate Factory,” Cajun Con will reunite some members of the original Wilder-starring movie’s cast, including Peter Ostrum (Charlie), Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt) and Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee).
‘The Incredible Hulk’s’ Lou Ferrigno will appear at this weekend’s Cajun Con in Gonzales.
Baby Boomers and the Gen X crowd will also be able to relate to Eddie Dezen (“Grease,” “1941”), Butch Patrick (“The Munsters”) and “The Incredible Hulk’s” Lou Ferrigno.
Younger Cajun Con visitors will veer toward Grey Delisle (“King of the Hill,” “The Simpsons”), Kate Micucci (“The Big Bang Theory,” “Bob’s Burgers”) and RJ Mitte (“Breaking Bad,” “The Guardians of the Galaxy”).
Wrestling fans, look out for Kevin von Erich, Mike Foley, Jake the Snake and many more.
Meet David Howard Thornton, aka Art the Clown at this weekend’s Cajun Con.
For horror flick followers, there’s David Howard Thornton (Art the Clown), Douglas Tait (“Five Nights at Freddie’s”) and C.J. Graham (“Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives”).
And that’s just for starters. To see the complete list, go to cajunconla.com.
For those who don’t like long lines, the site is also where you can purchase VIP Fast Passes ($150) good for the whole weekend. Golden tickets can be printed out or scanned there as well to present at the door at Lamar-Dixon.
Are you a Mick Foley fan? The retired WWE wrestler and author will be at this weekend’s Cajun Con in Gonzales.
On the back of tickets is a piece of advice: be there by 10 a.m. to make sure you get in.
“We want to stress that,” Innes said. “Here’s the deal. You don’t want to wander in at, you know, three o’clock in the afternoon or two o’clock. It’s like Disney World. When it opens up, if you run right to your ride, you’re gonna be pretty good. But if you wait three hours, you’re going to be waiting three hours to get on the ride. There’s a lot of people that are going to be in these lines to get these autographs.
“We’re excited. It’s gonna be a fun event,” Innes said.
Cajun Con will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. An hour designated for special-needs children is Sunday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.theadvocate.com ’
