Sci-Fi Expo Returns to Irving

Guests include actors such as Danai Gurira from "The Walking Dead"

The Sci-Fi Expo is coming back to Irving this weekend.

More than 15,000 people are expected to flood the Irving Convention Center on Saturday and Sunday.

Actors from "The Walking Dead" and other guests such as Billy Boyd from the "Lord of the Rings" movies and Christopher Lloyd from movies such as "Back to the Future" are anticipated to attract big crowds.

Event manager Mark Walters said tight security is always a top priority.

"When people come in costume, we have a weapons check table where they have to check in their weapons," he said. "The weapons are all tagged so that we know if somebody is carrying around a fake gun, we know it's a fake gun."

The Sci-Fi Expo is put on by C2 Ventures Inc., which also organizes the annual Dallas Comic Con in May and the annual Fan Days in the fall.

"Just three years ago, the shows that we were doing -- on average, we would get anywhere between 2,500 and 5,000 people," event manager Mark Walters said. "The show we had the May of last year, we had over 20,000 people."

That show, last year's Dallas Comic Con, drew an unexpected number fans, leading to complaints about long lines and overcrowding.

The C2 Ventures events are the Irving Convention Center's biggest events.

The City Council approved an incentive package Thursday night that brings the city one step closer to building a convention center hotel. The convention and visitors bureau anticipates the new development to break ground in the fall.

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