Mark Swafford

If it appears to you that there was an influx of elves, pirates and imperial stormtroopers in Chattanooga in the last year, you’re not imagining things.

Chattanooga’s already vibrant fan convention scene, active for 30 years, grew even larger in the last year, adding two conventions to the list of fantasy and sci-fi gatherings.

“I think we’re in a really good location that’s not been utilized to its full extent just because we’re so close to places with a direct route here,” said Jeff Hickey, an organizer of Con Nooga, a multi-interest convention that hosted its first gathering at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo in February.

For its debut, Con Nooga drew in about 950 attendees, making it one of the larger gatherings in the city after stalwart events like LibertyCon and Chattacon. LibertyCon has been around for 21 years, and Chattacon 34.

Most local events draw fewer than 500 visitors, so Con Nooga’s attendance was high for a first-year event, the organizer said.

To achieve that appeal, Con Nooga organizers took a shotgun approach to their programming, combining vendors, panel discussions and special guests to draw fans of everything from science fiction and horror to video gaming and comics.

“There are conventions that cater to a specific type of fandom, but at Con Nooga, we try to cater to everybody,” said Mark Swafford, Con Nooga’s gaming director. “There’s only been one type of convention in Chattanooga, the literary convention, before; and talking to people in this area, they wanted something a little different.

“We still have our literary program, but that wasn’t what we strictly stayed with,” Mr. Swafford said. “If you like one thing and not so much the other, we wanted it to be where it was a more welcoming atmosphere.”

To the outsider, the menagerie of costumed characters discussing character relationships and intricate game rules can be daunting. At their heart, however, these conventions do try to ease in newcomers, their organizers said.

Wearing a costume isn’t a requisite part of any of these events, though for some, like the local horror/fantasy convention Hallowcon, it’s encouraged as part of the festivities.

Most convention organizers said their events serve as a gathering place for people with similar interests, but casual observers are welcome, too.

“We really, really try to open it up,” Mr. Hickey said. “There are certain conventions, especially the smaller ones, that are cliqueish where a small group starts it and people decide to go as groups.

“You can feel excluded if you’re not a part of a group like that, so we wanted to go out of our way to let people know they are welcome to come in, even if you’re not that enthusiastic about a specific genre.”

Chattanooga’s other new convention, the Japanese Animé and Manga Paradise Convention (JAMPcon), will debut at the Choo-Choo on March 28. This will be Chattanooga’s first convention centered entirely on Japanese animation (animé) and graphic novels (manga).

Even at conventions like JAMPcon, FantaSciCon and Hallowcon, which have a narrower focus, newcomers still can find plenty to do.

Most conventions have celebrity authors and guests who host panel discussions and workshops to introduce visitors to topics ranging from prop fabricating to leather working, said April Huddleston, president of Chattooine, a group of about 40 local Star Wars fans who often attend conventions in costume.

“I’m not a bar person or a nightclub person, and if I’m going to go out and do something, I want to learn something at the same time,” she said. “(At conventions,) I’ve learned everything from how to make a corset to how to ghost-hunt with just basic tools to how to make a pirate hat and costume cheaply.”

Perhaps the greatest misconception about conventions is about those who attend them, said Dutch Stacy, executive director of both the horror-based Hallowcon and science fiction/fantasy FantaSciCon literary conventions.

“Everybody thinks it’s the shut-ins who don’t have any friends, the introverts and psychotics, and that’s just not it,” he said of the typical convention attendee. “Freaks and geeks? Try doctors, lawyers and engineers.”