The 1990s may be nearly 40 years behind us, but you wouldn’t know it walking through 90s Con in Hartford this weekend.
From the television shows and celebrities to the food, fashion and technology, the decade continues to hold a special place in the hearts of fans.
And some of the people who helped define it were there to celebrate, too.
Among them was actress Melissa Joan Hart, best known for starring in Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Clarissa Explains It All.
Even Hart says she’s seeing a little bit of the ’90s making a comeback in her own family.
“My son, my 14 year old, spent the whole summer at the mall and going to the movies, and I was like, that’s a very 90s summer,” Hart said.
Hart was among more than 50 celebrity guests at the convention, alongside familiar faces including Daniel Davis, Charles Shaughnessy and Nate Richert.
And judging by the crowds of fans lining up to meet their favorite stars, the nostalgia is still going strong.
But what is it about the ’90s that people miss so much?
“I think that there’s something so special about the 90s because it’s the last kind of protected time before social media, before the internet, before, you know, we had fax machines and microwaves, and that was about that was the extent of the technology,” Hart said.
And it’s not just the television shows or technology people remember fondly.
For Brad Deiter, a correspondent with That’s 4 Entertainment, the company behind 90s Con, it’s something you might not expect.
“This is a random answer. Maybe it’s a weird answer. The most nostalgic part of the 90s for me is with food,” Deiter said. “It is the food. It’s the Dunkaroos and the gushers and the fruit roll-ups and all the things that the like green ketchup that we don’t have anymore.”
“Because they were made different,” NBC Connecticut’s Noah Cornelius joked.“They WERE made different!” Deiter replied.
But underneath all the fun, Deiter believes there’s a bigger reason people keep coming back to the decade.
“People are just kind of like over this, like constant pace of life,” he said.“They want that feeling of what it was like when you played with your Tamagotchi like, and you can play the Game Boy for hours, and you were just having a good time sitting in a chair, sitting in a chair at your parents house. Right? Like that’s what people are searching for.”
So whether you’re there for the merchandise, the memories or the chance to finally meet your teenage crush, like John Stamos, 90s Con offers fans a chance to revisit a decade they haven’t quite let go of.
In addition, embattled actress Selma Blair has appeared in both days of 90s Con so far. However, organizers say Blair has rarely done interviews at past conventions, and her meet-and-greets take place behind curtains.
