Baseball games start with the ceremonial throwing of the first pitch. AWA begins with the ceremonial candy throw into the opening ceremony audience, handled here by Joe Vecchio (left) and Dave Merrill. The throwers' accuracy was noted, as one piece of candy hit this author in the head. Fortunately, the author's camera was undamaged...

...because no camera would have meant no picture of AWA leader Lloyd Carter, whose appearance whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Carter delighted in telling the ceremony how AWA 3 had broken all attendance records.

The convention had a warm welcome for Amy Howard, a woman who changed their lives. Amy was the voice of "Nova" in the dubbed Star Blazers series that drew many of the, um, older AWA fans into the world of anime.

Amy's popularity grew when she provided a cigarette lighter for another AWA tradition, the burning of a card from the Magic role-playing game. For reasons too complex to be discussed (or explained) in this forum, hard-core anime fans hate Magic players. Merrill's burning of the Magic card drew the largest cheers of the night.

Lea Hernandez, left, got to meet up with fellow artist and anime fan Elin Winkler at the convention. Elin spent several years working for San-Antonio-based Antarctic Press before setting out on her own.

..and the costume play begins with the arrival of the first Dai-con Bunny Girl. Ranma characters, as always, are extremely popular, but Final Fantasy costumes seem to be on the increase in 1997. This will serve as a preview of day 2's costume contest.