While producing concerts and collectibles shows, Gary Sohmers was also traveling to up to fifty antique, collectible, and specialty shows, every year – buying and selling merchandise, and promoting his shows to other collectibles vendors. In 1986, Gary set up to sell merchandise at Jolly Jim’s Flea Market at the Northeast Trade Center in Woburn, Massachusetts. He later convinced show owner, Marvin Getman, to set aside a section for collectibles vendors, and allowed Gary to sell the section as the Collectibles Extravaganza. In 1988, Sohmers brought Adam West to attend, and the beginning of celebrity guests at the Collectibles Extravaganza was born.
In 1990, the Collectibles Extravaganza expanded to the Bayside Expo Center in Boston, and Gary assembled the cast of the TV show Lost In Space together for the first time to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the program. He continued to produce the Collectibles Extravaganza with Jolly Jim’s Flea Market through 1999, involving many celebrities such as Buffalo Bob Smith, Tiny Tim, Lash Larue and Frank Gorshin, along with cast reunions including The Munsters and the kids from Willy Wonka.
In May of 2014, Gary introduced the Pop Culture Expo into his series of events. It was held at the Aleppo Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington, Massachusetts on December 6th and 7th, 2014. Just like the Collectibles Extravaganzas, the Pop Culture Expo welcomed collectibles vendors, but hosted more celebrity guests. Some guests at the inaugural show included Pete Best, Ernie Hudson, Billy West, John Ratzenberger, Jon Provost, and Mark Goddard, to name a few.
Although the show’s name was changed from “Pop Culture Expo” to “Northeast Comic Con and Collectibles Extravaganza” in December of 2014, the show continued to be a family friendly event for fans of movies, television, comics, toys and more. To this day, the show includes celebrity guests, national and local artists, musicians, and authors, as well as vendors who sell comics, crafts, pop culture, geek fashion, memorabilia, and other objects of nerd culture. There are also panels, screenings, presentations, VIP experiences, video and tabletop gaming and cosplay costume contests throughout the duration of the expo. Perhaps most importantly though, the event was founded with the objective of guiding the next generation toward careers in the creative arts. Creative arts professionals who regularly attend the events include comic book artists/writers, puppeteers, mask makers, actors, voice actors, and cartoonists.
In March 2017, the show moved into an empty J. C. Penney store in the Hanover Mall in Hanover, Massachusetts, and was renamed Boston SouthCoast Comic Con & Collectibles Extravaganza. The store had been empty for two years before being turned into the Hanover Mall Event Center. Adam West and Burt Ward from the 1960s Batman TV series were guests of honor at the show, which turned out to be West’s last public appearance before he passed away on June 9, 2017.
The event has maintained the name of “NorthEast ComicCon & Collectibles Extravaganza” since March of 2018, and has found a new home at the Boxboro Regency Hotel and Conference Center in Boxborough, Massachusetts.