Pop Culture Con brings celebrities to town with bigger mission

Had it not been for two tornadoes, Emperor Palpatine might not be in Sioux Falls this weekend.

English actor Ian McDiarmid, who played the Star Wars villain, is just one of the celebrities who’ll donate their meet-and-greet fees from the Voices Against Cancer 605 Pop Culture Con on Saturday to support pediatric cancer research.

Tornadoes are part of the event’s origin story, but the first chapter actually starts with pizza.

Before 2019, the Pizza Ranch near 41st Street and Kiwanis Avenue played host to an annual fundraiser for the local chapter of a pediatric cancer research organization called the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

The fundraiser was and remains a big, hairy deal. Literally.

People line up to have their heads shorn in solidarity with cancer patients, each bearing donations secured from the friends and family in the weeks before the mass shearing.

In September 2019, three tornadoes ripped through Sioux Falls, with one tearing a hole in the ceiling of the 41st Street Pizza Ranch months before the 2020 fundraiser.

It was unfortunate for St. Baldrick’s of the Sioux Empire, said Rob Keisacker, an organizer in Sioux Falls who lost his 12-year-old son, Ian, to cancer in 2014, because “Pizza Ranch was an absolutely phenomenal host.”

Even if the restaurant had been able to rebuild in time for the 2020 fundraiser, the COVID-19 pandemic presented another roadblock.

The event was canceled in both 2020 and 2021, in part over concerns about sickening children and families.

“I said, ‘Over half of these kids won’t be there, their families won’t be there,’” said Keisacker, who serves as spokesman for the local St. Baldrick’s chapter.

As fate would have it, a confluence of circumstances during those two missing years began to lay the groundwork for what eventually would become Voices Against Cancer. Keisacker serves as treasurer for the nonprofit behind 605 Pop Culture Con, aka the event that’s about to draw Emperor Palpatine to town.

Keisaker had met Dr. Lou George and his wife, Gina, before the 2019 St. Baldrick’s fundraiser. The Georges wanted to get involved with a Star Wars cosplay group that already counted Keisacker as a member. Before the tornados struck, the couple already had begun to formulate a plan to translate comic con culture into a way to support kids’ cancer research.

Lou George had attended a comic book convention in 2018 with childhood friend and Sioux Falls native Wally Wingert, a voice actor with a long list of cartoon credits. Gina George recalls the conversation that sparked the idea.

“They said ‘think about how much money they pull down at one of these things,” said Gina George, who serves as a board member for Voices Against Cancer. “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could do that for kids with cancer?”

When the tornado hit, the George family and their backers saw an opportunity to bring that charity pop culture idea to the city.

The same pandemic factors that kept the head-shaving event off the calendar for two years put the pop culture event on hold, as well. Last year, it launched in earnest as the Voices Against Cancer Initiative.

The initial iteration was marked by celebrities like Giancarlo Esposito of “Breaking Bad” and “The Mandalorian,” who collected cash for autographs and then turned it over to the organization’s mission. They raised $50,000 last year.

That first event also made connections with celebrities like Emily Swallow, who lost her father to cancer and chose to serve as an ambassador for cancer research in the months following the event. Swallow, who plays The Armorer in “The Mandalorian,” will return for a visit to Rainbow Comics on Thursday before jetting to Los Angeles for another convention.

Other celebrities took time to record video messages to children with cancer after connecting with the organization in Sioux Falls.

“The celebrities have been really blown away by the place and the people, but we also gave them a platform to talk about something they care so much about,” Gina George said. 

In addition to McDiarmid, Saturday’s convention at the Sioux Falls Convention Center includes actors Jonathan Rhys Davies, who portrayed Gimli in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise; Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO for Star Wars, and Katee Sachoff, who plays Bo-Katan Kryze “The Mandalorian.”

As with last year, the money collected for autographs and meet-ups goes to charity.

“Our celebrities are essentially donating their take,” Gina George said.

In response to feedback from visitors, this year’s event will include vendors. Part of the desire for more was tied to offering more of a pop culture convention feel, but the vendors also will help solve a more immediate problem that presented itself last year. 

“Last year, people were so excited, like ‘Giancarlo Esposito is here — Gus Freng!’ Then, they’d get in line and be like: ‘Wait a minute? What am I going to get signed?’” Keisacker said. 

There is also a screening of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” on Thursday night at Century East at Dawley Farm Village. Rhys Davies will be on hand to speak after the film to ticket holders.

“We’re trying to find the best mix of everything, so it’s like a typical con, but it’s not. It’s about pop culture in a convention kind of atmosphere,” Keisacker said. 

As for the head shaving? That’s on again as well. As in 2022, that event – which has raised more than $700,000 for St. Baldrick’s across its 17-year history – will take place at the Sioux Falls Convention Center.

It’s an evolving approach that organizers hope will become a long-term investment in cancer research, as well as a source of support for families struggling with childhood cancers. Some of the money will support Ian’s Thumbs Up FUNd, a nonprofit named for Keisacker’s son. The group, which is affiliated with Avera, offers direct aid to families.

“It’s everything from giving a family gas cards or grocery cards to getting a weighted blanket – anything it takes to help people through this really scary experience,” Gina George said.

But what of the Pizza Ranch? Well, the organizers haven’t forgotten about them and vice versa. Restaurant owner Todd Pharis donated coupons for pizza and credits at his store’s FunZone arcade for the convention’s Families of Honor celebration.

“He still supports St. Baldrick’s, even if he understands there’s no physical way he could host (a pop culture convention) at that location,” Keisacker said. “He’s just been great.”