Press Release: The Fan Fest Society today announced plans for a fan festival in Wilmington, NC, the filming location for the fictional town of Capeside in the television series Dawson’s Creek, which first aired on January 20, 1998. The festival, for fans, by fans, will take place May 4-5, 2023. A limited number of tickets for this two-day event are available at www.thefanfestsociety.com. Ticket sales will be available on January 20, 2023 at 11a.m. CST.
The festival offers fans a chance to experience the waterfront town of Wilmington and will be produced by fans, Jennie and Marcus Whitaker, who have created and produced other fan festivals and events over the past seven years, now broadening the scope of The Fan Fest Society to explore another fan-requested, beloved teen drama.
With events inspired by the show, the festivities will include cast panels, meet & greets, photo ops, cosplay, trivia, live music and other thematic activities, like an anti-prom and karaoke, plus dozens of events created for anyone who’s ever dreamed of what life might be like walking around Capeside. The full schedule will be available in April.
To date, the Capeside Event has confirmed several cast members, welcoming fan favorites (in order of confirmation): Kerr Smith (Jack McPhee), Nina Repeta (Bess Potter) Dylan Neal (Doug Witter), Hal Ozsan (Todd Carr), Mark Matkevich (Drue Valentine) & Gareth Williams (Mike Potter). Additional cast and crew to be announced over the coming weeks.
As for Wilmington, this will be the first organized event centered on the show’s cult-like following, one that has been reignited by streaming services over the years.
“Our town has regularly welcomed unguided visitors posing for pictures at various landmarks seen throughout the show, but this event, for fans of Dawson’s Creek, will be a first here. I’m confident the response to our coastal city will be overwhelmingly positive for fans of the show. We’ve seen what The Fan Fest Society has done with another fan community and we look forward to welcoming them here for a similar experience,” John Sneed, Vice President of Sales and Services for Wilmington & Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau, said. “Wilmington’s unique character and abundant charm makes it easy to see why so many productions have filmed here in recent years. This will be a wonderful opportunity for our town to welcome visitors and reminisce on years of Dawson’s Creek cast and crew filled our streets and occupied our east coast town for the idyllic setting of their show.”
The idea behind The Fan Fest Society launched in 2016. Since then, thousands of people from over 23 countries have gathered for events in the U.S and Canada, in beautiful settings with fellow fans and those involved in its creation. A Dawson’s Creek fan event in Wilmington is just a gem of a different color.
“In 1998, I would have absolutely swooned over a fan festival like this in Wilmington, 25 years later the nostalgia will make it even more magical,” Jennie Whitaker, co-creator of The Fan Fest Society, said. “When we decided to launch another fandom event, Dawson’s Creek was at the top of the list. This kind of fan-created, fan-led, fan fest isn’t meant to recreate the show, it’s meant to recreate the feeling, to bring people together to share memories and talk about how it affected them then, and now. On our first trip to Wilmington I imagined the town full of Dawson’s Creek fans, surrounded by as many cast & crew members as we could round up. If I’ve learned anything since our first fan fest, it’s that dreams like this are worth pursuing,” Whitaker, said.
And so, May 4-5, 2023, this coastal town, full of locations any Dawson’s Creek fan will recognize, fans will gather together for fandom and fellowship along the Cape Fear River.
“These fan fests are not like typical conventions, they are smaller, more immersive events that infiltrate a welcoming town alongside a willing cast and crew. It’s something that every great show deserves, people behind it willing to keep it alive,” Marcus Whitaker, co-creator of The Fan Fest Society, said. “We’re here to bring something tangible to the emotions people feel when they watch a show. The community that rallies behind these shows is what keeps these events alive.”