Fans flock to ‘Doctor Who’ convention in Wichita (+video)

When Christine Evans makes a costume, she doesn’t ignore any detail.

She’s been making costumes for about 10 years and started her career at Wichita’s Old Cowtown Museum creating historical costumes for the re-enactors.

She has since moved to New York and broadened her repertoire. Now she prefers cosplaying, or costuming, in science fiction costumes. And that’s what brought her to the Time Eddy Doctor Who Convention in Wichita on Saturday.

Her costume, Amy Pond from the “Doctor Who” episode “The Girl Who Waited,” drew lots of cheers from the audience of about 250. She took a year to make it.

Even Yogi, her mother’s dog, was dressed up in a red fez, like the titular Doctor.

Thousands came to the Best Western at I-135 and 53rd for the convention, which was the first “Doctor Who” convention Wichita has hosted.

Organizers opted to have the convention in Wichita rather than Kansas City because Wichita’s Whovians are more well-organized than those in other towns, said Kieran Kinsella, an event organizer.

Current and former stars of the TV series were on hand to take photos for a fee.

Panel discussions about the show were held in various rooms at the hotel all afternoon.

The convention attracted people from 16 different states and Canada, based off pre-registration data, Kinsella said.

“It’s been outrageously awesome turnout,” said Sean Beorn, one of the convention’s organizers. “We beat our expectations altogether, hands down.”

Another organizer, who identified himself as Gel E. Bean, said this year’s turnout would determine where the convention will be held next year.

The Best Western venue, he said, is an ideal starting place for first-year “cons” that are still working on building attendance.

“The Best Western here is pretty friendly to first-year cons,” he said. “There are a number of cons, like (Anime Festival of Wichita), that started out at this hotel. We’ll soon outgrow it.”

A group of Whovians from Tulsa brought a custom-built Tardis to the convention for people to take pictures with. The Tardis is the show’s iconic blue telephone booth.

It took Wade Balzer eight months to build the Tardis, which he originally intended as a family project. He said he knew other Whovians would appreciate the Tardis, so he started taking it to conventions across the region.

This Tardis comes apart in about 38 pieces.

“I wanted to make it as authentic as if it could possibly be used in an episode,” Balzer said. “Even to the point that the spacing in the letters are the same as it is in the show.”

The blue Tardis is apparently also a scenic backdrop for Whovians to propose to their companions.

As of Saturday afternoon, five people had proposed in front of the Tardis.

“It has been an amazing opportunity opener,” Chris Ransdell of Tulsa said of the Tardis. “You don’t just bring a Tardis, you bring an experience.”

This story was originally published October 3, 2015 at 7:49 PM with the headline "Fans flock to ‘Doctor Who’ convention in Wichita (+video)."