Thousands of people are expected to attend Hal-Con over the weekend.
The annual event launched on Friday, attracting a line-up of hundreds of people in costumes before the doors opened at noon.
“When I first started dressing up, it really built up my confidence,” said attendee Keri Fulton, who wore a handmade Pokemon Go Pokestop costume.
Her get-up included sparkly pink hearts and took 15 hours to make.
“Some people spend all year making costumes for this convention,” said Marsha Reid, costume contest co-ordinator for the event.
The contest will be held on Sunday. Some participants go on to compete in contests in other countries.
Shaelyn Delahunt and her two friends dressed up as “post-apocalyptic Disney princesses” for the event.
The two friends were dressed as Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Ariel from The Little Mermaid; they carried a flamethrower and a torn off tentacle from the villain Ursula, respectively.
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Delahunt was dressed as Belle from Beauty and the Beast and had a skull from the Beast character attached to her shoulder.
The costumes will be part of her application to get into a school to study fashion and/or costume design.
Keegan Durnford, another attendee, sported a homemade costume of the Shocker, a Marvel Comics supervillain.
“It’s fun to look cool,” he said.