The event, which is sponsored by Curious Book Shop, 307 E. Grand River Ave., occurs twice a year and brings in a variety of old paperbacks, comics and magazines to various vendors.

The event isn’t directed toward a specific group of people, the owner of Curious Book Shop Ray Walsh said. It is a show that exposes people to a large assortment of material.

“A lot of people come from out of town, out of state,” Walsh said. “We have a lot of regulars. Some people collect it, and some people try to find different things that they have never seen before. It’s kind of an unusual show because there are a mixture of things here, things that aren’t offered a lot of places, and that’s one of the reasons why we like to have this.”

The event wasn’t created to host only rare items but offered an assortment of affordable books for purchase as well, Walsh said.

“We have things here that are in a $10 to $50 range,” Walsh said. “This isn’t just a show for people that collect rarities — there are lots of things within the $5 and $10 range that people buy to read because they are looking by a particular author … There is a big mixture of material.” Brian Brown, a regular that makes the trek all the way from Detroit, comes to find books for enjoyment.“I found a few low-priced books,” Brown said. “There is usually a lot of good reading here; the paper’s in rough shape, that’s why no one wants it … (I come) all the time. It’s only a 90-minute drive for me so it’s not that bad.”,

Vendor Michael Parsons started collecting during his college days in the ’70s when he used to work with Walsh. His collection has grown so much since then that he is buried in novels, he said.“It’s fun,” Parsons said. “It is a social event. My wife refers to it as ‘playing books.’ It’s nice to talk to other people with a shared interest in books. Books get dated after awhile … A lot of the stories don’t stand up to the test of time very well. Truth of the matter is you end up with more stuff then you should really have.”

Those who browsed around the tables included professors from MSU, students and other regulars, which makes it an interesting buying market, Walsh said.

Walsh, who said the next Classicon is scheduled to be sometime in June, also notes that there are more than just comics and collectors items that keep bringing people back.

“We do it is so we can see other collectors and see friends,” Walsh said. “A lot of these people I’ve known for 25 years. We see them at shows when we wouldn’t see them otherwise at all.”