The Daves would like to welcome and thank guest blogger Roxsy Tyler for this piece!

The Monster Mania Convention in Cherry Hill, NJ takes place twice a year at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. There is one in March and always there’s another in August. Monster Mania also started popping up in Baltimore Maryland aswell. Monster Mania happens to be the first ever Horror convention I attended back in 2008 before I started running my Carnival of Horrors. Easily, the convention became a place where every horror fan in the tri-state area could congregate, get dressed up, get photos with celebs, and meet their Facebook friends! In this amazing place where I met Adam West, Malcom McDowell, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, and yes, even a fellow horror host by the name of Karlos Borloff… never did I ever imagine that someday people might come to get their picture taken with me. So, for those who didn’t have the opportunity to go to Monster Mania 17 here’s a recap for you where you can see it through the black drippy eyes of your favorite horror carnival proprietor.

Day One (March 11, 2011): Mr. Potent and I arrived at the Crowne Plaza Hotel around 4ish to meet up with Joe Sena who we had the pleasure of vending with all weekend and asked us to help promote MonsterChannel.tv. If it wasn’t for the vendors setting up shop just beyond the hotel lobby you wouldn’t have any idea a horror convention was about to start. All was slow and all was quiet at the moment. Mr. Potent and I walked in with our merchandise and cameras clung in our arms and the first familiar face I saw was Chuck Maher standing guard as security. Chuck plays our Mad Scientist Dr. Villhelm on our show Carnival of Horrors and he’s a dear friend to the cast. We also happened to arrive the same time Patrick Devaney and Christopher Murphy from the Zombie Hunters: City of the Dead. After all the chatter and catching up we eventually all went to our posts. Up until last August, I never had a table nor had merchandise to sell. When you’re not vending you have more freedom to walk around and pow wow with friends but as a vendor or a guest you have the opportunity not only to pow wow with friends but to make new friends as well.

Last August, Mr. Potent, Johnnie 13, and myself had the opportunity to man the Midnite Mausoleum table because Marlena unfortunately couldn’t make it. We became acquainted with the Zombie Hunters. Don’t let the guns and ammo scare you off– if you’re not a zombie they’re the nicest guys in the world. Also during the convention last August we became acquainted with Ophelia Von Gray and Tucker Sherry, the creators of Guten Monsters. Last year they were at the table next to ours. We did go to the main vendor room to catch up with them to meet all the new editions to the Guten Monster family! I strongly recommend getting a Guten Monster. Everyone must have a Guten Monster to pal around with! I have one named Wolfington and he lives on my bed.

Coming up on Tuesday, March 29th: Part 2!

Roxsy Tyler~