My first Comicon wasn’t a small local show. It wasn’t a low-key trial run, a tester event, or a “dip your toe in the water” moment. No—I went big. I went C2E2-big.
Chicago’s C2E2, Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, in 2023 was my very first Comicon as a vendor for Auburn And Main. And if you know anything about Comicons, you know C2E2 is one of the largest conventions in the entire Midwest. Tens of thousands of attendees. Hundreds of vendors. Massive booths from global entertainment brands. Cosplay so incredible it makes your jaw drop. And me, with my truck, trailer, tiaras, and mild existential dread, rolling into McCormick Place wondering what I had just signed up for.
And honestly? I loved it—but it came with challenges I never could’ve imagined.
Comicon's Are a Different Beast
I’m used to renaissance festivals—two-day weekends, outdoor tents, morning breezes, and a little dirt in my coffee. Comicons, though? They run three or four straight days. C2E2 is Friday through Sunday, which means setup happens Thursday, not the morning of. And because I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, I drove four hours to Chicago on Wednesday night just to give myself a buffer.
Vendor Lesson #1: You never regret giving yourself extra time.
McCormick Place Is ENORMOUS (And I Can’t Back Up a Trailer)
When I tell you McCormick Place is enormous, I mean it in all caps. I’ve never been inside a building that big in my life.
Getting to drive behind the scenes—through the loading docks, down backstage corridors, literally onto the convention floor—felt like stepping into a secret world. Forklifts everywhere, crates the size of tiny houses, banners being hoisted by scissor lifts, giant franchise booths under construction. It was like watching a small city being built in real time.
And then there was me, trying to back my little trailer into the designated unloading spot.
I must have pulled forward and reversed a dozen times. My trailer was still crooked. Painfully, embarrassingly crooked. No one stepped in to help (a common vendor experience), so I did the best I could.
At load-out, I watched someone back in a trailer five times bigger with surgical precision. They could’ve threaded a needle with that thing.
Vendor Lesson #2: No one is judging you. Everyone is too busy doing their own chaotic load-in dance.
Unloading, Parking, and the Long, Frozen Walk of Doom
Once I got my booth piles unloaded—shuttling boxes four at a time on my hand cart through what felt like a football-field-long hallway—I moved my truck and trailer to the parking lot I had prepaid for.
It. Was. Far.
Like, 20-minute-walk-minimum far. And C2E2 2023 was cold—late March in Chicago cold. My poor dad (my unpaid but very reliable booth helper) was fighting off a cold all weekend, so I ended up dropping him off and picking him up every day just so he wouldn’t have to make the trek in the freezing wind.
Vendor Lesson #3: If you think the parking lot looks close on a map, it’s not.
Setting Up Without a Tent Felt So Strange
I’ve spent years learning how to set up a beautiful outdoor booth—tents, sidewalls, fabric draping, weather-proofing, anchoring, all the vendor rituals. But Comicons don’t give you any of that. You get an empty 10x10 slab of concrete with a black curtain behind you and say, “Good luck.”
My booth setup was simple:
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Two tables with my usual black cloths
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My regular tiara displays
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A black pipe-and-drape backdrop
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A simple sign that read “Auburn And Main”
No curtains. No flower garlands. No pink sparkly drapes. No ambiance. Just me and a grid of concrete.
I packed everything away at night under tablecloths because leaving merchandise out on fully open tables gave me anxiety. But the reality is: if anyone was going to steal something at a Comicon, it probably wasn’t a tiara. Most booths have thousands of dollars in collectibles sitting out.
Vendor Lesson #4: Put electronics and cash away, drape your tables, trust the system, and go get dinner.
The Cost of Doing a Comicon (Prepare Your Wallet)
This part shocked me more than anything else.
At a renaissance festival, a 10x20 booth costs anywhere from $150 to $250 for the entire weekend. A Comicon? Oh no. A 10x10 booth at C2E2 cost me around $1,350. I don’t remember the exact number because I think my brain blocked it out like a traumatic memory.
And the chairs—THE CHAIRS.
At McCormick Place, I rented two chairs for $200 EACH.
And I didn’t even get to keep them.
Vendor Lesson #5: Budget for booth fees. Then double it. Then breathe.
Vendor Day #1: Security, Lines, and The Endless Blur of Customers
Friday morning, we got funneled into a different hall where security scanned bags, checked equipment, and ushered us through metal detectors. It wasn’t a big deal—maybe an extra 15–20 minutes—but it was another layer of “this is an enormous event.”
Once I got to my booth and started setting out tiaras, mirrors, and my Square reader, I was ready.
And then the exhibit hall opened… and it was a blur.
I barely remember the flow of that first day. It wasn’t frantic, but it was steady. Consistent. Nonstop. I had a short checkout line almost the whole time the hall was open, but there were so many bodies in the building that it was impossible to tell where the customers ended and the crowd began.
I was shocked at how many people wanted tiaras.
I had assumed tiaras appealed more to renaissance folks or bridal shoppers—not Comicon attendees dressed as superheroes, anime characters, or sci-fi mashups. But the truth is: everyone likes being sparkly. And tiaras pair beautifully with cosplay.
Vendor Lesson #6: Never underestimate how many people want something shiny.
Cosplay Energy: A Whole Different Level
At renaissance festivals, the people watching is great—families, themed costumes, whimsical garb, kids running everywhere, PG-13 at the spiciest.
Comicons, though? They’re not really designed for children. Booths sometimes display NSFW content. Costumes can be… minimal. And the creativity is off the charts. I kept my head on a swivel the whole time just trying to take it all in between sales.
It’s intense, chaotic, dazzling, colorful, overwhelming—and honestly, exhilarating.
The Behind-the-Scenes Magic
My favorite moments weren’t during show hours.
They were during load-in and load-out.
When the crowds disappear, the hall transforms into a hive of forklifts, crates, pallet jacks, rolling carts, radios squawking, vendors yelling directions to each other, and the sound of entire storefronts being disassembled in minutes. It’s gritty, unfiltered, and very real.
That’s when I felt like a real vendor.
A business owner.
A tiny cog in a massive machine making magic behind the scenes.
Vendor Lesson #7: There’s beauty in the chaos if you love the work.
Selling Out, Learning Fast, and the Financial Reality
C2E2 was one of my first shows with truly high gross revenue. But I had two major wake-up calls:
1. I didn’t bring enough inventory.
I ran out of my best sellers on day one.
I brought items no one wanted.
I underestimated demand so badly it made the weekend harder than it needed to be.
2. High sales don’t guarantee high profit.
Between hotels, gas, food, parking, booth fees, and chair rentals, my net profit was about the same as much smaller shows.
But the experience?
The scale?
The lessons?
The confidence boost?
Worth every penny.
Since then, I’ve spent all year curating one-of-a-kind pieces, carefully tracking what sells in person vs. online, and eliminating anything too bridal from my booth setups. C2E2 changed how I think about inventory forever.
Vendor Lesson #8: Gross revenue is impressive. Net revenue is what matters.
Would I Do C2E2 Again? Absolutely… With Changes.
If I ever do it again:
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I’m staying in one downtown hotel.
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I’m Ubering instead of driving.
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I’m bringing twice the inventory.
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I’m renting zero chairs.
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I’m preparing for cold weather.
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And I’m giving myself more breaks and buffer time.
C2E2 was overwhelming, exhausting, cold, chaotic, and expensive. But it was also energizing, validating, and downright magical.
It pushed me, taught me, stretched me, and showed me what Auburn And Main could do at a major convention with no reputation and no guarantee of success.
Final Thoughts
I’m still figuring out this whole vendor thing. Every event teaches me something new. But C2E2 2023 was the moment I realized:
I can do hard things.
I can be overwhelmed and still show up.
I can grow, learn, adapt, and improve.
When I rolled out of McCormick Place after load-out—tired, broke, freezing, driving six hours home with my dad and a trunk full of empty boxes—I felt proud.
Because I didn’t just vend at my first Comicon.
I survived it.
I learned from it.
And I’ll be back for more.