It's the World Slime Convention! Let's Goo!

I retreated and watched as Park, who at 30 is much older than most of her fans, handed out slimes and signed posters, chatting and laughing.The World Slime Convention organizers had designated Park one of their Most Valuable Slimers, and although other slime sellers had significantly more followers on social media, her sampler palettes were among the most sought after items. I managed to snag one and then spent the rest of the convention being stopped by mothers asking, “Where did you get that?” When I told one that Slimey Pallets had long since sold out, she looked panicked, as if I'd said her transatlantic flight had been canceled.Park is one of thousands of indie slime sellers online, some of whom, like her, have evolved into niche celebrities. Slime similarly exploded on YouTube: “2017 is undoubtedly the year that slime was a thing, like a big thing,” says Kevin Allocca, head of culture and trends at YouTube. “We started rethinking the business, rethinking aspects of our supply.” Pretty quickly, Elmer's started selling new items like gallon-size clear glue, all-in-one slime kits, and, later, glow-in-the-dark, color-changing, and metallic glues. “We're trying to attend as many slime conventions as we can this year so we can meet our fans in person,” says Derek McEwen, cofounder of the modeling clay company. Over time, though, slime needs to be reactivated with additional borax, and many slimers send customers extra in tiny baggies, which looks alarmingly like cocaine.On August 5, 2017, Park posted a video of one of her first palettes. “Thank you so much, and you know yellow is my logo color, so it's really thoughtful.”It's likely that Park's young followers will grow out of their slime phase.