Atlantic City, NJ, October 24, 2025 –(CarryOnHarry.com)– The era of Atlantic City relying solely on summer crowds and gaming is over. POPPED! The Pop Culture Expo is the official kick-off event for a strategic mission led by Black Ink Events and the Invest Atlantic City coalition. Their goal is ambitious: to create new opportunities in Technology, Entertainment & Tourism, and Business & Workforce Development by bringing regular, smaller, yet powerful events to the city during the off-season. This initiative is designed to be highly accessible and affordable, directly supporting local jobs, boosting tourism, and fueling economic growth year-round.
The debut of POPPED! on The Boardwalk is more than a convention—it’s a declaration that Atlantic City is embracing a dynamic, cultural future. The event is already strengthened by key local partners, small business owners and like minded mission organizations within Atlantic City.
Legendary Star Power Converges on the Shore This is not a traditional comic-con; it’s a high-energy, meticulously curated, intimate gathering of the stars and creators who defined our favorite genres, celebrating over 50 years of cultural influence.
The celebrity line-up is a powerful trip down memory lane, featuring icons of film, horror, and wrestling for autographs, photos, and panels:
James Saito, The Original Shredder: Famed actor and the original Shredder from the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. Who’s joined by legendary FX artist Jeff Goodwin (who did the creature effects on the film)
Steve Barton, Horror Power Broker: Producer of the global phenomenon Terrifier 2, offering an exclusive inside look at breaking into the film industry.
Indie and Cult Legends: Including famed “Scream Queen” Tina Krause, actor Santiago Cirilo, legendary film and TV actress Tara Buckman, and the iconic ECW “Quintessential Stud Muffin” Joel Gertner.
Crossover Titans: The event demonstrates its broad cultural appeal by featuring paranormal and cryptozoology experts John Zaffis (Godfather of the Paranormal) and Ronny Le Blanc (Expedition Bigfoot).
Local Legends: Father Evil, The Ironman Tony Cairo (ECW), & The Pitbill Gary Wolf (ECW) who have influenced local pop culture and Americana for more than 30 years.
Unforgettable: Premiere VIP Experiences to Drive Excitement To build momentum for this mission, Black Ink is offering limited Premiere VIP Experiences designed to create truly meaningful, exclusive moments that will generate major fan buzz. These experiences will sell out immediately and include:
Private VIP Lunches with legends like James Saito and John Zaffis, limited to just 10 spots each.
An Exclusive Film Experience with Steve Barton, featuring a private screening and an intimate Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) session on the horror industry.
VIP Cocktails with “Scream Queen” Tina Krause at the 3BR Cocktail Experience.
VIP Promo Video Shoots with wrestling icons Joel Gertner, The Ironman, and The Pitbill, giving fans a chance to live out their pop culture wrestling fantasies.
Deep Dives, Discussions, and The Kung Fu Theater The day is packed with interactive experiences, including panels, workshops, and the thrilling Kung Fu Theater, where attendees can enjoy back-to-back screenings of classic Kung Fu cinema like Enter The Dragon and The Five Deadly Venoms. Furthermore, the event will feature The Scott Spillman Gallery, offering a stunning visual retrospective of pop culture history. This commitment to diverse, high-quality programming supports the mission to create a sustainable, year-round tourism product.
The Curated Exhibition Floor: A Marketplace of Local Support The show floor is a vibrant testament to local business support, featuring an exciting array of goods from dedicated small businesses and independent creators specializing in nostalgia, art, and memorabilia. Black Ink Events has meticulously curated the vendor experience to ensure a low-competition environment where every appropriately themed business can thrive, giving attendees an unmissable and unique variety of art, apparel, books, toys, and collectibles they won’t find anywhere else. This focus on small business is central to the overall goal of developing a strong local business and workforce ecosystem.
“The experiences are everything, the memories are a lifetime and the goal is for people to remember their experience happened right there at the Crown Jewel of the Jersey Shore, Atlantic City.” – Eric Vincent, Founder/Ceo, Black Ink
POPPED! The Pop Culture Expo takes place on Saturday, March 21, 2026, at ACX1 Studios on The Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ. Tickets, including details on the limited Premiere VIP experiences and the full panel schedule, are available now at the Black Ink Events website.
Media Contact: E.Vincent@Blackink.events 609-808-2673
As the official launch event for the Invest Atlantic City mission, the success of POPPED! is crucial to establishing Atlantic City as a leading destination for accessible, year-round specialized entertainment, cultural, and niche tourism.
Portland, OR, November 27, 2025 –(CarryOnHarry.com)– The FAN EXPO Portland celebrity guest list has always featured great variety, and five new additions to the 2026 lineup for the pop culture extravaganza are further proof of that. Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Saw), Gates McFadden (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Picard), Walter Koenig (Star Trek, Babylon 5), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place, Star Wars: The Acolyte) and “Peggy the Dog” (Deadpool & Wolverine) will now attend the event set for January 16-18 at the Oregon Convention Center.
Elwes gained wide acclaim for his portrayal of “Wesley” in the 1987 classic The Princess Bride and reached new audiences by headlining the Mel Brooks spoof Robin Hood: Men in Tights and later Saw. He also recently appeared in the Tom Cruise features Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One and Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning and portrays “Mayor Larry Kline” in Stranger Things 3.
McFadden had the key role of “Beverly Crusher” in TNG, reprising the role in Picard, Prodigy and other iterations of the franchise. She is also a stage actress, choreographer, director, teacher, and was the host of more than 300 episodes of the podcast “Gates McFadden InvestiGates: Who Do You Think You Are?”
Koenig is best known for his recurring television portrayals both of the hated, intensely driven “Alfred Bester” (Babylon 5) and the likable, perpetually cheerful “Pavel Chekov” (Star Trek). Koenig’s film work includes the first seven Star Trek feature films, for which he earned two Saturn Award Best Supporting Actor nominations. His many other films have been independent projects with challenging roles.
Jacinto played “Jason Mendoza” on the full four-season run of The Good Place (2016-20) and later appeared as “Lt. Fritz Avalone” in the blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. Also among his more than 50 TV and film credits are runs on the Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers and the animated series Hailey’s on It!
Peggy, earning the title of “Britain’s Ugliest Dog” in a national competition there, has gone on to stardom as “Dogpool” in the Marvel Universe in Deadpool & Wolverine. A portion of proceeds from her appearance at FAN EXPO Portland will support a local charity in the Pacific Northwest.
The five bolster an already impressive FAN EXPO Portland celebrity roster that includes: • The Lord of the Rings headliners Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan • Mike Colter (Luke Cage, Men in Black³) • Josh Holloway (Lost, Yellowstone) • Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: The Next Generation) • Harry Potter duo of Matthew Lewis and Bonnie Wright • Judith Hoag (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Armageddon) • Robbie Rist (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Brady Bunch) • Ernie Reyes Jr. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) • Brian Tochi (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Revenge of the Nerds) • Kenn Scott (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, director/Adventures of Johnny Tao) • François Chau (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lost) • Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!, American Dad) • Cedric Yarbrough (Reno 911!, The Goldbergs) • My Hero Academia standouts Eric Vale, David Matranga, J. Michael Tatum, Brandon McInnis and Clifford Chapin • Hazbin Hotel regulars Christian Borle, Joel Perez and Krystina Alabado
More FAN EXPO Portland guest announcements will follow from the worlds of film, television, streaming, art, literature, gaming, cosplay, anime, animation and more in the coming weeks.
Adult, Youth and Child Single-Day Tickets, Three-Day Passes, Family passes, and Ultimate and VIP Packages for FAN EXPO Portland are available now at www.fanexpoportland.com. Advance pricing is available until January 1.
Portland is the second event on the 2026 FAN EXPO HQ calendar; the full schedule is available at fanexpohq.com/home/events.
About FAN EXPO HQ FAN EXPO HQ is the largest comic con producer in the world. Collectively it hosts over one million fans annually at FAN EXPO New Orleans, FAN EXPO Portland, FAN EXPO Vancouver, FAN EXPO Cleveland, MEGACON Orlando, Toronto Comicon, CALGARY EXPO, FAN EXPO Denver, FAN EXPO Philadelphia, FAN EXPO Boston, FAN EXPO Chicago, FAN EXPO Canada, FAN EXPO Dallas, VIDCON Anaheim, EDMONTON EXPO, Dallas FAN FESTIVAL and FAN EXPO San Francisco. The latest schedule of events is available on the website, along with up-to-date ticket information. Discover. Celebrate. Belong.
Nashville, TN, November 20, 2025 –(CarryOnHarry.com)– A fourth-generation U.S. Virgin Islander who has called Nashville home since 1993, de Lugo transitioned from an award-winning career in music publishing and feature film producing, with Platinum and Gold Albums, Arista Records A-Team Award, BMI #1 and more, to lavender farming in 2018. Focusing exclusively on Peace Tree Farm’s trademarked, heat- and humidity-tolerant hybrids—Lavender Phenomenal®, Sensational!®, and Exceptional!®—she has proven these cultivars are the definitive choice for Southern growers.
Lloyd Traven, President of Peace Tree Farm, the original breeder of these global-standard varieties, praises de Lugo’s early foresight and influence:
“Over a period of the last decade, Gigi has been highlighting our introductions that have become the Gold Standard for lavender worldwide, and she was an early proponent because she saw the extra value of these introductions… Once she knew the plants were different and far superior, she committed to making the right choice for her customers. She can now proudly say that she has started over 30 new farms on their journey across an area ranging from Virginia through to Iowa!”
From its original rented fields in Whites Creek—Gigi’s Lavender, was celebrated by “Garden & Gun” magazine as one of the South’s top lavender destinations—the licensed nursery has supplied thousands of Peace Tree-bred plants throughout Tennessee and beyond. In 2019, de Lugo founded “The Lavender Exchange (TLx),” an exclusive membership alliance offering ongoing technical support, resource sharing, cooperative marketing, and agritourism promotion to farms that source their plants exclusively from Gigi’s Nursery.
Traven also highlights the impact of this network: “Gigi also knows the great importance and value of marketing with expression of clear benefits and a clear message. She created the Lavender Exchange with this in mind—to provide an outlet for cooperative marketing and sharing of equipment and machinery and product ideas.”
This strengthened ownership ensures continuity for de Lugo’s research, educational outreach, and product innovation at the Joelton location, including her newest Patent Pending offering, “ZWave Mg”—a topical magnesium spray infused with pure Phenomenal lavender hydrosol steam-distilled exclusively from flowers grown by TLx member farms. Designed for relaxation, muscle relief, and better sleep, ZWave Mg showcases the wellness potential of Southern-grown lavender.
“This milestone gives us the stability and security to continue investing in our Southern lavender research, development, product distribution, and growing community of the farms we support through The Lavender Exchange (TLx),” said Gigi de Lugo. “From the beginning I set out to prove lavender could become a viable cash crop for Tennessee and Southern farms—not only a pretty agritourism field, but a real harvestable commodity built on Phenomenal®. It took courageous pioneers willing to bet on the unproven and stay the course with me. These years, alongside the extraordinary farmers of our TLx family, have been one of the greatest adventures of my life.”
Experience the pure essence of Southern lavender: Gigi’s premium products, including the breakthrough ZWave Mg, are available exclusively through her website, and retail partners across Tennessee. Gigi is in discussion with a Nashville based manufacturer to expand her ZWave Mg production capacity for 2026.
About Gigi’s Lavender Nursery & Farm Gigi’s Lavender Nursery & Farm is a Tennessee-licensed grower and an exclusive Southeast source for Peace Tree Farm’s Phenomenal®, Sensational!®, Exceptional!®, Inspirational!® lavender cultivars. It serves as headquarters for The Lavender Exchange (TLx), a premier network advancing lavender agriculture and agritourism across the South and Midwest.
