YOUR Flashback Weekend Memories!

As this week's tribute to The Flashback Weekend Horror Convention continues here at the Blog, I would like to share some of YOUR favorite stories and memories from Flashback Weekends of the past.

I received a ton of fun stories from you (thank you so much for sharing!) and, since I wrote about my five moments, I narrowed yours down to five, too.

1) From ROB

"Horror, particularly slashers, was one of my gateways into cinema.

Robert Kojder with Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund.

Naturally, A Nightmare on Elm Street was one of my favorites growing up, so it was a no-brainer to shell out the money to meet Robert Englund.

I had done many cons before this but had never seen professional photo ops taken with a set background like this before, so that made things a bit more special and unique.

Not to mention, Robert was an awesome and playful guy, and immediately came up with the perfect pose for our picture. It's an amazing memory."

Rob, by the way, is a film critic colleague of mine named Robert Kojder, who writes terrific reviews here.

2) From JUDY

"My daughter and I are huge fans and have been attending for many years. It always lands on her birthday weekend.

One year when all the Ladies of Elm Street were in attendance, Heather Langenkamp her 'buddy' got them together and sang happy birthday to her."

3) From ALYSSA

"One of my favorite stories is when I met Dick Warlock without even realizing it.

I was sitting in the hallway waiting for the line to start to pick up the wristbands, while I was in my Sidney (lead character from "Scream") cosplay. 

He and a few others came up to me (and me sucking at recognizing faces, I didn’t realize it was him) and started talking with me. I just thought it was a sweet old man just wanting to make conversation. Before he walked away he says 'thanks for being here' and shook my hand (once again not putting two and two together I didn’t really react).

Until I saw him at his table, when I fangirl-realized that Michael Myers was talking to me in the hallway lol!"

4) From DON

"The Mayor" certainly gets a workout every year at Flashback!

"What FBW means to me??

I try to give my sweat equity into Mia/Mike‘s show to be the show I would go to every year. I try to give a vibe like, 'hey this is the place to be." And it just blinks by for sure. 

I love the friends I get to see every summer and have a great time. 

My best memory is when an outside inflatable screen went down and deflated on me, and I’m talking to Marcy Darcy (Amanda Bearse from "Fright Night") in front of two hundred people, "Are we gonna get this going ????" Always say YES.

Love the show. I especially love the people, and love Nick and Svengoolie too!"

Don "The Mayor" Johnston and myself, slowly losing our minds during the convention. And yes, there seems to have been some black blotches on the lens of the camera, but no matter...this picture rules.

Don, aka Don "The Mayor" Johnston, is the behind-the-scenes tech hero who works with hotels, convention centers, and other venues to help run major events and conventions all over the city.

I work closely with Don at every Flashback Weekend to make sure the Q&A Room runs smoothly for the entire weekend, and to insure that all of the other events (like, film screenings, parties, VIP gatherings, Celeb Photo Ops, Vendor Room needs, Svengoolie's appearances) at the convention happen without a hitch.

Flashback would NOT be the same without Don, and I can't wait to see him this weekend!

5) From KEN

"Flashback Weekend 2019 - My tenth Flashback. This was the year FW hosted a "Night of the Creeps" reunion, including Allan Kayser of "Mama's Family" fame.

The night before Flashback I thought it would be fun to watch an episode of "Mama's Family" to get in the mood. The episode that happened to be on TV featured a pre-Simpsons Yeardley Smith (voice of Lisa Simpson) in a guest role. I thought 'Oh, that's funny!' I had never seen that episode before.

The next morning on Friday, I got to the hotel (at that time the Crowne Plaza) and was sitting in the lobby at 10am, probably no more than 12 hours after I was sitting at home watching that rerun of "Mama's Family."

Nobody else was around. It was dead silent. A few moments later, I see a woman who looks suspiciously a lot like Yeardley Smith walk into the lobby and sit down not far from me. I keep eyeing her thinking 'No....this can't be.'

I keep checking the Flashback website to see if she had been added as a guest, nope.

But out of all 5 billion people on this planet, Yeardley Smith, who had JUST happened to rerun on TV last night.....walked into the lobby.

Ordinarily I am very good about respecting the privacy of people, especially outside of any sort of scheduled appearance. But seeing as we were the only two people around and it was dead silent, I calmly approached her and asked 'Are you who I think you are?' to which she said 'Probably!'

Ken with actress Yeardley Smith.

I continued to ask 'I don't want to bother you, but since we're the only two people around, would you mind if I got a photo with you?' This situation was TOO extraordinary and I knew nobody would believe it had I not gotten this.

She was EXTREMELY friendly and agreed to take the photo, and upon doing so she kept asking me questions 'What's your name? Where are you from' etc. A total sweetheart. I went on to tell Allan Kayser this story, and he couldn't believe it.

Ken with actor Allan Kayser.

Saturday night rolls around, and a good friend of mine, Bob Maloblocki, is sitting at the Murray Bros bar as I socialize right outside in the courtyard. Allan Kayser was sitting near him at the bar, when Bob notices Yeardley Smith sitting at a booth with some of her people. Bob nudges Allan about this, and Allan takes off for her booth. He claims that was the first time they had met since filming the episode in the '80s.

Ken with some schmuck.

Sunday, I had checked out, bag was all packed, and I was making my way to my car to leave.

As I am walking through the ramp to get to the parking lot, who is the last person I cross as I am walking up? Yeardley Smith. I still never figured out WHY she was at the hotel, but I looked at her without stopping and I just said 'I'm glad you got to see Allan', she smiles and says 'Thanks so much!' 

There you have it, Nick. The story of what happened at my tenth Flashback Weekend. I included pictures of both of them, with one extra of you and me, for good measure."

MORE Flashback Weekend Memories!

So let's get ready to make more Flashback memories at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare this Friday, August 2nd thru Sunday, August 4th! Tickets and schedule here!

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See you there!