About Us
Foam Fest is a celebration of the Nerf and foam dart sports hobby. Our aim as organisers is to showcase our hobby as an inclusive activity, which welcomes and embraces all.
Our mission is to promote our hobby as an environment where people of all ages, including those who may seek an alternative to traditional group activities, have the opportunity to get involved and experience a fun, physical activity that provides opportunities to improve fitness levels whilst learning valuable team work and communication skills. In addition to this we aim to promote our hobby as an activity where budding painters, designers and engineers can practice their skills by painting and modifying blasters, designing and building props and developing game types.
We are committed to creating a space which is open to all, with something for everyone to enjoy and all for the good of a nominated youth charity - which will change each year depending on location.
Our Story
Foam Fest was started by Mel and Al who share a passion for the nerf hobby. They could see that the convention format would offer a unique opportunity for fellow nerfers to come share a love of the hobby while raising money for a local charity.
The first Foam Fest convention was held in Wigan on 9th March 2019 and it was an incredible day. Together we managed to raise over £1000 for our charity, Wigan Youth Zone.
New Challenges
The beginning of 2020 presented a new challenge for all of us. The global pandemic saw the world change and it became clear that Foam Fest 2020 would not go ahead as planned.
And so, Foam Fest Live was born. With only a few weeks to prepare, the 12 hour livestream was successfully broadcast via Twitch an brought together many of the exhibitors and sponsors we were eager to see at the convention. The outcome was an incredible £5020 for our charity, OTR-Bristol.
Foam Fest Live 2
In 2021 the convention was once again threatened by the global pandemic so the decision was made once again to take it online with another 12 hour livestream.
Another wonderful day of the community pulling together to do something amazing, this time raising £4075 for Papyrus.
Together Again
2022 saw the community come together in Bristol for another physical convention. on 23rd July 2022, the UWE Centre for Sports was transformed into a convention and game space for the day. For the first time we had the convention running in parallel with some family games with some more intense, hobby games in the evening.
Together we managed to raise £2000 for OTR-Bristol.
Something Different
In 2023, after a series of disappointing meetings with potential venues, we decided to do something different. Instead of the usual convention, we put on a whole weekend of high FPS games. We decided on a Star Wars theme to the games and fun was had by all. In total we raised £727 for Papyrus from event tickets and the raffle.
FF '24
In August 2024 we hosted the biggest convention yet. Royal Holloway University London served as the backdrop for Foam Fest as we raised over £1000 for Blossom LGBT+