Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the three-day festival has evolved from a 200-person school gathering in 2000 into a pop-culture juggernaut that drew 58,000 visitors last year. This year’s program spans nearly 20 themed zones—from science and gaming to Lego and cosplay—and features outdoor stages plus the 2,000-seat Sala Ziemi concert hall.
Highlights include “The Witcher: Music of the Continent,” marking a decade since the release of the video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with folk-metal group Percival Schuttenbach performing alongside an orchestra.
Headliners among the 280 guests are Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter films, and Mark Sheppard, known for the TV series Supernatural. Also attending are Warriors author Victoria Holmes (pen name Erin Hunter) and British historian Dan Jones.
The festival is organized by the non-profit Second Era Fantasy Club and supported by the city, which has temporarily renamed several tram stops after classic fantasy works and avoided scheduling competing events to ease hotel demand. Two “PyrCamp” tent sites and a guide to 72 out-of-town lodgings have been arranged for visitors.
Admission to all panels, concerts and screenings is included in the festival pass. The festival runs until Sunday.
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Source: PAP, Pyrkon
Click on the audio player above for a report by Agnieszka Bielawska.