August 12, 2002 - First, tattoo artists from around the world chose Toronto to gather and meet and celebrate their craft, then, over 100,000 youth from around the world flock to Toronto to celebrate their faith at World Youth Day and now, it seems Toronto will be hosting another first of its kind event as comic and toy enthusiasts from around the world descend on Toronto for the ultimate celebration of what was once just a closet pastime. This four day festival, the organizers of the event entitled GEEK WEEK incorporates the best of many similar, more genre- focused events such as the Star Trek Convention, the Canadian National Comic Show, the Toy Show, the Paper Show and the few scattered gaming tournaments that tend to pop up from time to time. The event is geared toward the little bit of geek that everyone seems to have in them.

Cy Williams, Head Organizer of the event wants to use this celebration to redefine the word "geek" and dispel the myths and stereotyping of old, by pushing geeks into the light with a celebration that will appeal to even the most closeted of Geeks.

GEEK WEEK 2002 runs at the St Lawrence Market Complex (Front and Jarvis) from August 27 - 30, 2002

GEEK WEEK 2002 Hours of Operation:
Tuesday, August 27: 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
Wednesday, August 28: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm
Thursday, August 29: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm
Friday, August 30: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm

Tickets to this event: $10 for adult's for a day pass, $5 for a children's pass, $25 for an adult 3-day pass and $12 for a children's 3-day pass.

On Tuesday morning at 9am, GEEK WEEK 2002 will start the week off with the trial matches of our YU-GI-OH! Tournament of Champions, an elimination-style tournament based on the extremely popular YU-GI-OH! Cartoon, currently airing in the afternoon on YTV. This Tournament of Champions will pit up to 1000 children, between the ages of six and thirteen, against each other in a series of one on one matches. Matches will be refereed and closely monitored. This will continue over the course of the week though the semi-finals on Wednesday, August 28, the finals on Thursday, August 29 and will conclude with the Champion Matches on Friday, August 30, when we announce the winners.

Registration for the YU-GI-OH! Tournament of Champions will take place at select gaming stores across the city of Toronto. A Registration Booth will also be set up at the historic St. Lawrence Market each Saturday leading up to the event starting August 10, 2002. At the registration table, Children can pick up registration packages, fill them out, get their parent to sign the permission slip and return the completed form along with a $15 entrance fee. Each child/youth who registers for the tournament will also receive a complementary pass for the rest of the Geek Week activities.

Tuesday, August 27 also marks the beginning of The Cantina, our outdoor, out of this world, alien-themed food court. Positioned in the southern portion of Market Lane Park, next to the north Market, this portion of GEEK WEEK will be serving up space-dogs, the millennium falcon burger and many other tasty treats all week long.

The Bazaar portion of the event will officially open on Tuesday morning at 9 am with a short-list of 40 vendors. This will run concurrently with the YU-GI-OH! Tournament of Champions. By Wednesday morning, an additional 80 vendors will have set-up shop in and around the North Market for a total of 120 vendors carrying comics, toys, Barbie�s, vintage toys, dinky cars, action figures, superheroes, star trek, star wars, science fiction, fantasy, gaming... etc.

This sale of sales will be backed by a weeklong, heavily guarded Silent Auction, containing the absolute best of the best of the best in comics, vintage toys, impossible to find collectables, original geek-related artwork and more. The Bazaar will also featured a never before attempted "Trade Zone" which will give fans and collectors alike the opportunity to meet like-minded people and trade up to five items for something even better.

Across the street at the St. Lawrence Market, two movie screening rooms will be set up in the upper Mezzanines for an event we like to call Geek Week Movie Madness. Each of the two screening rooms will show 4 movies per day beginning Tuesday, August 27 and concluding Friday, August 30. While we are still selecting the films we will be showing, it is our intent to offer up an overview of the greatest, geekiest movies of all time. Movie Madness ticket prices are $5 per adult (16+) and $3 per child (-15) per show.

Sounds like a fantastic event, doesn't it? Just keep in mind that there will also be tons of special guests making appearances all week long, cool corporate areas, video game demo areas, a tattoo zone, genre-specific workshops and every other cool, geeky thing we can possibly cram in.

Estimated Attendance:

Tuesday, August 27: 9:00 am - 6:00pm: in addition to the anticipated 1000 YU-GI-OH! players, we are also expecting an additional 2500 in support of players from friends and family, an anticipated attendance of 700 for the Movie Madness, and a general admission of approximately 1000 more.

Wednesday, August 28: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm: in addition to the anticipated carryover of 500 YU-GI-OH! players from the previous day, we are also expecting an additional 1200 in support of players from friends and family, an anticipated attendance of 700 for the Movie Madness, and a general admission of approximately 3000 more.

Thursday, August 29: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm: in addition to the anticipated carryover of 250 YU-GI-OH! players from the previous day, we are also expecting an additional 750 in support of players from friends and family, an anticipated attendance of 700 for the Movie Madness, and a general admission of approximately 5000 more.

Friday, August 30: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm: Thursday, August 29: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm: in addition to the anticipated carryover of 50 YU-GI-OH! players from the previous day, we are also expecting an additional 150 in support of players from friends and family, an anticipated attendance of 700 for the Movie Madness, and a general admission of approximately 6000 more.

Information:

For further information on the fabulous Geek Week line up of silent auction, bazaar, cantina, trade zone and Tournament of Champions, call Cy Williams, Head Organizer at 647 221 1411.