221B Con. April 4-6. Tickets: $55 at the door. Atlanta Marriott Perimeter Center, 246 Perimeter Center Parkway, Atlanta. 770-394-6500, 221bcon.com.
The Confederates of Wisteria Lodge. Meetings: first Sunday of January, March, June, October, December. Information: mmckay221b@gmail.com.
The game is afoot, and it involves dressing in costume, swapping favorite film moments and arguing over just who is the best BBC version of Sherlock Holmes. It’s all part of the second 221B Con, taking over the Marriott Perimeter Center in Dunwoody April 4-6.
The “con” (convention) world has a number of notable events that draw mostly young fans by the thousands. Atlanta’s Dragon Con is one of the biggest, pulling in science fiction and fantasy lovers from around the world. Others focus on everything from animals and animation to pop culture and online gaming. Last year, one of the most beloved characters in literature finally got his own con when five young women organized an event around the master detective, Sherlock Holmes.
“We met at a Dr. Who convention and, while sitting around one night, we found out we all love Sherlock Holmes,” said co-founder Heather Holloway, who works for the Social Security Administration in Griffin. “We thought it would be cool if someone had a Holmes convention. So we organized one in Dunwoody with space for about 125 people and had 60 register in two days.”
Attendees ranging in age from 14 to the mid-70s signed up, with the majority being fans in their 20s who learned about the con through social media outlets. They piled into panel discussions about the birth of the detective novel, Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper, and how Hollywood has re-created Holmes in shows such as “House,” “Psych” and “Elementary.” They came decked out for a costume contest and listened to a performance by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company.
The final attendance was cut off at 700, a number the organizers never dreamed of. But they can point to a number of reasons why the event was a hit and why they’ve organized a second.
“It would be stupid to pretend that the BBC’s ‘Sherlock’ series isn’t driving fandom right now,” said Holloway, who read her first Holmes story in ninth grade. “People are talking about it on Tumblr, fan fiction sites and art sites because even though Holmes has been around for 100 years, he’s still a character people can relate to. And for that, we need to thank the author, Arthur Conan Doyle.”
Co-founder Crystal Noll of Warner Robins discovered Holmes through Holloway, her roommate when the two attended Georgia Southern University. The first “Sherlock” episode hooked her in minutes.
“After that, we read the entire canon together,” said Noll, 32. “To me, it’s amazing that Holmes is so moldable. You can put him in any time, any genre, any situation — even make him a mouse or a dog — and he can face off against anybody. I love that.”
Holmes’ allure has long been felt by fans of all ages. The Baker Street Irregulars, a literary group devoted to Holmes and Victoriana, was established in 1934 and has chapters around the world, including the only one in Georgia, the 44-year-old Confederates of Wisteria Lodge. Marilynne McKay, former president and current secretary of the Confederates, said it took some youthful energy to spawn a Sherlockian con.
“I know I didn’t even know what a con was,” admitted McKay, who attended last year’s gathering attired as Holmes’ long-suffering landlady, Mrs. Hudson. “And I don’t think it occurred to them that anyone over 40 would be interested. But the con does much the same thing our group does — discusses Sherlockian stories and has great fun.”
McKay, who is sitting on several panels at this year’s event, said a con is a wonderful way to extend interest in “the canon,” what Sherlockians dub the 56 short stories and four novels penned by Doyle between 1887 and 1926.
“Years ago, after the Jeremy Brett series on PBS, there was no Robert Downey Jr., no Benedict Cumberbatch,” McKay said, referring to actors who have portrayed Holmes. “I often wondered who is going to be reading this stuff in the future. But 221B Con is a bunch of young people who love Sherlock, and now our mission is to get them to read the stories.”
This year’s three-day event features 110 hours of programs, a tea, a costume contest, vendor tables and another performance by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. But getting fans to rediscover Holmes in a written context is one of the con’s more subtle objectives, Noll said.
“A lot of people are grabbed by movies and television — that’s our culture,” she said. “But if they also pick up the books as well, that’s a win, and that makes me happy.”
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