What is Topekarama?

• It’s part comic book convention
• It’s part old-fashioned record show
• It’s part sports memorabilia show
• Exhibitors will be bringing cool and hard-to-find merchandise from the worlds of:
  • Video and Board Games
  • Sports and non-sports trading cards
  • Comic books
  • Novels
  • Music
  • Original Artwork & Prints
  • Die-cast cars and toys
  • Action Figures
  • Movies and TV
  • Americana
  • Vinyl LP’s, Cassettes, CD’s
• All of this and more for an unbeatable price!
• Mark your calendars now, and plan to attend TOPEKARAMA!

A Brief History of Fancon Central

Topekarama is a production of FANCON CENTRAL, previously known as KC FANCON, and has been percolating on the back burner for quite a while. FANCON CENTRAL began organizing and promoting their own conventions in early 2006. We began an ongoing series of comic book shows in the KC-area known as KC FANCON which focused on the fan-exhibitors who were looking for a low-cost show in which to buy, sell, and trade comic books and various kinds of toys and figures. Late in the first year of operation, the FREE STATE FREECON was born, but held in Lawrence, Kansas rather than in KC. The FREECON evolved to become the FREESTATE COMICON. It is focused on local and regional comic book creators, and we’ve always prided ourselves on creating a space where emerging comic book talent could meet and mingle without the pressures of much larger conventions. It’s small, and we like it that way.

In 2015, due to market conditions and sharply rising cost of venue space, all of the shows that once took place in the Kansas City area were relocated to Lawrence. Because it has always been one of our goals to offer low-cost exhibitor space, we could no longer operate in KC.

Cut to current day, and we’ve rebranded as FANCON CENTRAL. Now we operate three different annual shows in Lawrence. FANCON, FREESTATE, and COLLECTORAMA, the latter of which was created to widen the scope of what we do, to include many more types of memorabilia, yet maintain the pop-culture nature of the show.

After trying for nearly a decade to get a show going somewhere in Topeka, we had all but given up on the idea. Then in June of 2023, we received an email from an executive working for the expocentre complex in Topeka. They were inquiring into the possibility of bringing a show like mine to Topeka. After a meeting, TOPEKARAMA was born.

TOPEKARAMA is the result of a natural progression and evolution. It’s the sister show of COLLECTORAMA, and is the first in what we hope will be the first of many shows around Kansas and the central plains.

We cordially invite you to come and see Topekarama for yourself. Better yet, purchase a booth and participate in what is sure to become a Topeka tradition!

Craig Klotz
Owner, FANCON CENTRAL
July 31, 2023