Here's the story as I know it; a few years back Scare L.A. and Midsummer Scream were one event. Two years ago I attended Scare L.A. and this year I made it to Midsummer Scream. It's kind of unfair to judge Scare L.A. because apparently that was a rebuilding year, but the difference between the two events seems to be the temporary haunts at Midsummer Scream. Midsummer had quite a number of fun mini-haunts with anywhere from a couple to maybe ten rooms. These haunts were a huge treat and the fog in the "Hall Of Shadows" made the area rock!
The vendors were cool and plentiful ranging from cool t-shirts to some semi-pro masks, as well as a few booths for haunt vendors. On hand were Bill Mosely (House Of 1000 Corpses/Devils Rejects/3 From Hell), the legendary Elvira (would it kill you to put on the costume Cassandra?) and a few other horror stars. A few celebrities were also in attendance including Spyder from Powerman 3000. It was a fun, friendly vibe and even when the place packed out Saturday every one was totally cool. Let's also note the while the author was not interested, there were quite a number of panel discussions and other distractions.
I'm going to give Midsummer four out of five skulls and some advice. The convention needs to get a better handle on its attendance. The event needed more places for a quick rest (if you want people to shop, don't give them a reason to leave) and more food options (the food trucks out front helped, but even at 1:30 it took over an hour to get served). I'm also hoping that Midsummer might further differentiate itself from Scare L.A with two adjustments. #1. I'd like to see more vendors for professional haunts and #2. Why not ONE large Hall Of Shadows haunt built exclusively for the event (there was more than enough room)? I will recommend CalHaunts for that last job because they did a fantastic job with the Tiki Terror entrance.
Here's a few pics from the event:
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