After a strong turnout at its first event last year, Vette City Con is making a return.

The science fiction and pop culture convention was first held in 2017 after Chad Sheppard and Michael Etherton, the convention’s founders, saw the need for such a convention locally.

Sheppard said similar conventions are usually held in larger cities like Nashville and Louisville, which made him want to see a convention closer to home.

“I think a lot of times, Bowling Green gets passed over for things like this,” he said.

Part of Vette City Con’s success last year was because of the low cost of attendance, Sheppard said, adding that attending larger conventions can be expensive.

“That was one of our biggest hangups on going to conventions,” he said, noting that attendance at Vette City Con costs less than parking at some other conventions he’s attended.

A day pass for the event costs $15 and a weekend pass costs $25, according to the convention’s Eventbrite page, which can be reached through the convention’s website, vettecitycon.com.

The passes can be purchased in advance on the Eventbrite page.

Sheppard’s goal in co-founding Vette City Con was to keep the event “attainable” for people in the area, he said.

“It’s not in our vision to see this thing grow to the point of charging $60 or $70 for admission,” he said.

Etherton said the convention will take place in the National Corvette Museum’s conference center and run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 27 and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 28.

Featured celebrities, according to vettecitycon.com, will include Tony Moran, who played Michael Myers in “Halloween”; John Dugan, who played Grandpa Sawyer in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” series; Deep Roy, who portrayed the Oompa Loompas in Tim Burton’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”; former professional wrestler Jim “Hillbilly Jim” Morris; and Susan Olsen and Mike Lookinland, known for playing Cindy and Bobby Brady on “The Brady Bunch.”

Morris, who lives in Bowling Green, said he was excited about being featured at a convention so close to home, adding that he generally doesn’t like to fly to conventions in distant cities.

“I turn them down all during the year because they’re so far away,” he said.

Morris also said he likes the idea of a smaller venue because it allows him to spend more time with individual fans.

Morris said larger conventions don’t always allow for a personal experience because celebrity guests must shuffle through so many attendees.

“They are so big … you don’t really get a chance to spend any intimate moments with people,” he said.

Etherton said Vette City Con will also include roughly 50 vendors and an Artist Alley in the Corvette Museum’s Victory Lane, where independent illustrators and other artists will be featured.

Anyone at the museum can visit the Artist Alley free of charge, he said.

The convention is being held in the museum’s conference center to keep the venue small and intimate, Etherton said.

“We’re still shooting for a smaller convention,” he said.