Sheffield is great at putting on free events for it's residents. The city's Out Of This World Festival was a great example. It celebrates everything Sci Fi, Magic and Horror and, best of it all, raises money for charity.
On my into the city and sporting a casual Wonder Woman look, I couldn't spot a single other person on the train looking remotely nerdy. I did start to worry that I would be the only person turn up geekified but I needn't have worried. I was only half way up the hill to the city centre when I spotted the most adorable little girl in a pink and black frilly Batman costume and as soon as I got to St Paul's Place I could see the throngs of people crowding around the winter gardens. I immediately spotted the Avengers and headed over for photos.
There was a good mix of superheroes and sci-fi characters, including Doc Brown and his Delorean, having just arrived from 1985.
Inside the winter gardens were more characters, stalls, the TARDIS and the Simpson's couch. Unfortuantely it was a massive overcrowded bottleneck so it took a good five minutes to walk what is normally a thirty second stroll any other day. Hopefully next year they'll arrange it so that there's less in there because it was impossible to either browse or take good photos.
Out of the other side of the winter gardens were carnival rides and the longest queue of the day, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. I can't believe I went all the way to Hong Kong Disney Land and never met the Frozen ladies but a few months later I find them in my home town. Crazy!
The magic and horror zones were more child orientated so I didn't spend much time there but the sci-fi zone was brilliant. 99% of the time I'm the nerdiest person in the room so the atmosphere of being with all these other people who enjoy the same things as me was amazing. I hope it gets bigger and better every year.
