A group of about 120 Sherlock fans, young and old, rented a theater last Sunday for the first Bay Area Sherlockian Mini-Con and spent the entire day watching Sherlock BBC episodes, while also having a small artist alley, contests and food catered to the event.

Dawn Owens, the convention organizer and creator of the Mini-Con at Cinema 3, said that after going to a group showing of “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” starring Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, she wanted all Sherlock fans to experience watching something together.

“We talked about it for a bit and I then said, ‘well, it’d be simple enough to do—just find a theater, cater in the food and we’d have a local meetup,” Owens said.”Suddenly, we were a convention, not a little 60 person meetup like first envisioned.”

“I thought it was absolutely fantastic,” said Jay Castillo , media supervisor and contest organizer. “I love how certain shows can just bring people of not just different ages, but of completely different backgrounds together in such an exciting way.”

In addition to a video and costume contest, there was also a charity raffle, where people donated items to be raffle. Nearly $2,000 was raised for Save Undershaw, a charity dedicated to saving the former home and now historic landmark of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the Sherlock Holmes book series. Another $800 was donated to Vision Literacy, a literacy and education charity in Santa Clara County.

The next Bay Area Sherlockian Mini-Con is planned for August 2013.