Regional conventions are back! The fan-run Trek Long Island con is happening May 31-June 2 at the Hyatt Regency in Hauppauge, New York, and has guests from across the Star Trek franchise as well as special events.
Stars from Strange New Worlds, Discovery, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager
The big draws for the convention’s second year come from multiple Trek shows and include Melissa Navia and Yetide Badaki from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Armin Shimerman, Chase Masterson, JG Hertzler, and Kitty Swink from Deep Space Nine; Ethan Phillips from Voyager; Tara Rosling, Elias Toufexis, and Orville Cummings from Discovery, Gabrielle Ruiz from Lower Decks, and Bonnie Gordon from Prodigy, along with guest stars from The Next Generation and other shows.
Other guests include notable Star Trek writers like David Gerrold and Derek Tyler Attico, artists like J.K. Woodward, IDW Comics editor Heather Antos, and many more. (Full list here.)
In addition to photos and signings, celebs will be doing panels to meet with the fans, plus there are unique meet-and-greets, like an admirals’ tea party that includes Clyde Kusatsu (Vice Admiral Nakamura, TNG), Natalija Nogulich (Admiral Nechayev, TNG), and Conrad Coates (Admiral Terral, Discovery) or one with Discovery villains Elias Toufexis (L’ak) and Janet Kidder (Osyraa).
Podcasters, authors, scientists… and singing
Look for panels featuring scientists, Trek book authors, an art show, and well-known podcasters from the SyFy Sistas, Trek Geeks, Strange New Pod, Open Pike Night, and Trek Untold, to The Duras Sisters among others. These creators will be moderating all of the big panels, as well as running fan-friendly ones of their own.
TrekMovie and the All Access Star Trek Podcast will also be represented as I will be moderating a panel with Kitty Swink on Sunday.
There will be performers in the evening, including Bonnie Gordon and Chase Masterson, plus events hosted by the Trek Geeks.
By fans, for fans
Founder Stefanie Gangone is a librarian who organized the convention after first putting an organization together (during the pandemic) to help kids who were struggling with being bullied and other challenging social issues. It seemed a natural segue to her to then put together a Star Trek convention that would be inclusive and supportive of fans. She says what makes Trek Long Island unique is a combination of unique access to Star Trek stars, and panels hosted by podcasters, who she says “are the best interviews you’re gonna get.”
From Stefanie:
My hope for this convention is to share how Trek has celebrated diversity and inclusion since it was gifted to the world in 1966! What can you expect to see at Trek Long Island? Anything spanning from in-depth discussions about TOS, Trek’s influence on Modern Day, Autism in Space, Gender on the Enterprise (They, Him, Her, Xi) and more! I will be reaching out to celebrity guests that share this view of kindness too!
I want attendees to walk into Trek Long Island and know that they can be themselves or cosplay whoever they want. 🙂 You be you.
You can watch a promo for the event below…
Schedule and admission info
Get the full schedule here.
You can get tickets for all 3 days (adults$70/kids $25), just Saturday & Sunday ($60), or single day passes (adults $40/kids $10). Kids under 5 get in free.
Last year’s event raised over $1000 for the Lavelle School for the Blind, and this year, they plan to raise even more for the Pop Culture Hero Coalition and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
I’m all for conventions, I hope it goes very well. I’m just not sure you can promote a convention and have Melissa Navia as your leading guest. That’s not a slight at her but she really isn’t that much of a “star” IMO she is the least known and possibly most unlikeable of the SNW crew. There are other guests of course and these type of conventions are much more of a “community” feel which is nice.
As I wrote I hope it goes well and people have a great few days.
Back in the 90s, I went to two fan run cons here in the UK. George Takei headlined one and Brannon Braga and Ron Moore the other.
I regret not going to one where Marina was in attendance.
Local conventions can be fun, and they give you more of a chance at real exchanges with the actors and writers etc.
Lots of people love Ortegas; there’s a reason why “Moretegas” was a hashtag. :-)
Yes, I know people want more of her character, and that’s great, I’d like to see more from her too. But that “Moretagas” hashtag precisely shows that her character is not one of the main ones in SNW. The fantasy episode is probably the one where she is most active and that’s not even her character. I have little negative or particularly positive insight, only that she is quite an insubordinate character in a hierarchical chain of command. We just don’t know enough about her backstory.
It’s only due to this why I think it odd that you lead with Melissa Navia as your main guest.🤔
It’s a small-ish fan-run convention with stars from Strange New Worlds, Discovery, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and Lower Decks! No complaints from me.
She’s the most prominent guest who is an active series regular on a Star Trek show right now. The other guests have had guest spots only or they appeared on Trek shows that ended 20+ years ago.
Being fan-organized, this convention probably cannot land the “big shots” so they have to go with the stars who agree to appear.