Fallout Fan Fest is an unofficial celebration of Fallout that takes place in Goodsprings, Nevada—the location of Fallout: New Vegas’ opening. The event began as a loose gathering of dedicated fans but has since grown to become a sizeable convention, with this year attracting over a thousand attendees.
This year’s iteration took place from November 14 to November 16, and was notable for the unannounced appearances of Walton Goggins (The Ghoul), Jonathan Nolan (Executive Producer) and Aaron Morten (Maximus) who arrived to work the bar at the Pioneer Saloon and announce that season three of the television show has been confirmed by Amazon.
Growing Pains
This year, if an attendee wanted to participate in the various events being staged in the town, they were asked to purchase a ticket. Tickets cost $45 per person per day, or $60 for a weekend ticket. The price of admission prompted one Redditor to complain that “Fallout Fan Fest isn’t for the community anymore,” in a now-deleted post.
Their argument was that charging admission to Goodsprings—combined with the presence of Bethesda and Amazon—meant that the festival had been corporatised and was no longer about the people.
This resulted in a scathing reply post from Buvvitoe, who made a strong argument about the capacity of a tiny settlement like Goodsprings and how much money is pumped into temporary infrastructure to accommodate thousands of attendees.
As of the 2020 census, Goodsprings has a population of 162. It’s essentially a ghost town with none of the necessary infrastructure to support a convention. Compensating the locals by purchasing tickets seems like a fair deal for everyone.
Still, there were several organisational complaints that cropped up online throughout the event. People complained about not being able to park in Goodsprings — because everyone wants hundreds of cars appearing in their town overnight, right? Others complained about long lines to meet actors, which stretched outside into the pouring rain. This is a symptom of the growing popularity of the convention outpacing the existing infrastructure.
There were also issues with there not being enough shuttle buses from Primm to Goodsprings, leaving some people stranded in the (marginally bigger) nearby town. However, the organisers reportedly ran more buses on Saturday and Sunday to rectify this.
All in all, if people want to stop a fan festival becoming corporatised then a certain amount of grace has to be given to the grassroots organisers as they figure out the logistics of a constantly growing event.
- First Episode Air Date
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April 10, 2024
- Cast
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Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moises Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones, Walton Goggins
- Where to watch
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Amazon Prime Video
