My Annual List of Florida’s Pop Culture Events: 2015
Each year I do a blog post about the insane amount of fan conventions that are scheduled in my home state of Florida. By spring, I usually add some stragglers that I have missed or have shown up on the radar after the fact. In 2014, Florida announced/attempted/hosted over sixty (60) pop culture-centric events. The thing is, most of these conventions are (in my opinion) getting harder and harder to differentiate from one another. Many of them follow the same mini-Megacon or mini-Dragon Con formats, while others are “anime cons” chock full of steampunk, Homestuck, and My Little Pony content. </rant>
As usual, let me know if I’ve missed anything and/or have any mistakes. Also, if you cite my blog as a source for your own list – please link back to this post. Thanks!
CONFIRMED: 66
PENDING: 26
- JAN 3, Sukoshi Con Ft. Walton Beach (Ft. Walton Beach)
- JAN 9-10, Auburndale City Con (Auburndale)
- JAN 11, Deland Comics & Collectibles Show (Deland)
- JAN 16-18, Magic City Comic Con (Miami)
- JAN 16-18, Otronicon (Orlando)
- JAN 31, BTL Collectibles Show (Miami)
- FEB 5-8, Coastal Magic Convention (Daytona Beach)
- FEB 7-8, SwampCon (Gainesville)
- FEB 8, Retr-O-Rama Collectibles Show (Jacksonville)
- FEB 13-15, Shock! Pop! Comic Con (Ft. Lauderdale)
- FEB 20-22, Florida Arcade & Pinball Expo (Ft. Lauderdale)
- FEB 21, Pulp Adventure Con (Ft. Lauderdale)
- FEB 21, SyFy Saturday (Bartow)
- FEB 21-22, Orlando Anime Day (Orlando)
- FEB 27-MAR 1, Pensacon (Pensacola)
- MAR 7, Jacksonville Anime Day (Jacksonville)
- MAR 14, Otaku-Ya! Anime Festival & Flea Market (Jacksonville)
- MAR 14-15, ALT*Con (Tallahassee)
- MAR 14, Cosmic Comic Fest (Tampa)
- MAR 21-22, Geek Fest Florida (Boca Raton)
- MAR 28, Mandarin MiniCon (Jacksonville)
- MAR 28-29, FreeCon (Tallahassee)
- APR 10-12, Megacon (Orlando)
- APR 24-26, Florida Anime Experience (Orlando)
- MAY 1-3, Sukoshi Con: Destination Anime (Panama City)
- MAY 1-3, Jacksonville Arcade Expo (Jacksonville)
- MAY 1-3, OASIS (Orlando)
- MAY 8-10, Collective Con (Jacksonville)
- MAY 15-17, May-Hem (Orlando)
- MAY 17, North Florida Comic Con (Jacksonville)
- MAY 22-24, Omni Expo (Orlando)
- MAY 23-24, Space Coast Nerd Fest (Melbourne)
- MAY 29-31, Fandom Unleashed (Orlando)
- JUN 5-7, Sukoshi Con: Anime Paradise (Fort Lauderdale)
- JUN 6-7, Hero Hype Con (Miami)
- JUN 7, Daytona Beach Comic Convention, Summer (Daytona Beach)
- JUN 11-14, Metrocon (Tampa)
- JUN 20-21, Ocala Comic Con (Ocala)
- JUN 24-28. Dice Tower Gaming Con (Orlando)
- JUN 25-28, Florida Supercon (Miami)
- JUN 27-28, ArcadiaCon (Fort Lauderdale)
- JUN 27-28, Walker Stalker Con (Orlando)
- JUL 10-12, The Grand Brony Gala (Tampa)
- JUL 17-19, Ancient City Con (Jacksonville)
- JUL 17-19, Southern Media Con (Lakeland)
- JUL 24-26, Fanboy Expo (Tampa)
- JUL 30-AUG 2, GeekyCon (Orlando)
- JUL 31-AUG 2, Megaplex (Orlando)
- JUL 31-AUG 2, Tampa Bay Comic Con (Tampa)
- AUG 7-9, Orlando Nerd Fest (Orlando)
- AUG 8, Florida Comics Experience (Melbourne)
- AUG 8-9, Pensacola Para Con (Pensacola)
- AUG 14-16, Anime Festival Orlando (Orlando)
- OCT 2-4, Mizucon (Miami)
- OCT 2-4, Wizard World’s Fort Lauderdale Comic Con (Fort Lauderdale)
- OCT 9-11, Necronomicon (Tampa)
- OCT 17, Pinellas Comic and Maker Con (St. Petersburg)
- OCT 23-25, ANIMATE! Miami (Miami)
- OCT 30-NOV 1, Hurricane Who (Orlando)
- OCT 30-NOV 1, Spooky Empire (Orlando)
- OCT 31-NOV 1, WasabiCon (Jacksonville)
- NOV 6-8, FANdom Con (Fort Walton Beach)
- NOV 6-8, ShadoCon (Palm Harbor)
- NOV 13-15, Rangerstop’s Superhero Toy & Comic Con (Orlando)
- NOV 20-22, Anime South (Fort Walton Beach)
- DEC 6, Daytona Beach Comic Convention, Winter (Daytona Beach)
TBD. These are conventions I don’t have confirmation from regarding confirmed/returning dates.
- Amelia Con – NOTE: They are returning in 2016.
- Anime South (Fort Walton Beach) – NOTE: 2015 Cancelled. No news on 2016.
- Away Mission (Orlando/Tampa)
- BelleCON (Jacksonvile) – NOTE: 2015 Cancelled, Allegedly returning 2016.
- Chibi Pa (Hollywood)
- CreativeCon (Panama City)
- CONjure (Orlando)
- Creator Owned Expo (Ft. Lauderdale)
- Galaxy Comic Con (Tampa)
- Holiday Matsuri (Orlando)
- Khaotic Kon (Tampa) – Website is gone and Facebook is covered in spam. Rumor is it isn’t coming back.
- LameCon (Land O’ Lakes)
- Miami Hurricon (Miami)
- Mini Con (Plantation)
- NakamaCon (Panama City)
- Orlando Toy & Comic Con (Orlando)
- Palm Con (West Palm Beach)
- Rapier Con (Jacksonville)
- Salty Bay Con (Tampa)
- Sands of Anime (Cocoa Beach)
- Sci-Con (Tampa)
- Tampa Anime Day (Tampa)
- Time Lord Fest (Tampa)
- Ultracon of South Florida (Ft. Lauderdale)
- Winter Garden Wonderfest (Winter Garden)
- ZombiCon (Fort Myers)
AS A BONUS, I’m adding Florida geek events that have ceased operation for one reason or another. I’ll be maintaining this list each year, too, going forward.
- Acciocon (Orlando)
- Anime Express (Daytona Beach)
- Ascendio/Infinitus (Orlando)
- Assimilation (Orlando)
- Clearwater Toshocon (Clearwater)
- Creature Con (Orlando)
- DreamCon/Nightmare Before Thanksgiving (Jacksonville)
- EXP Con (Jacksonville)
- Evil Con (Tampa)
- Fantasy Twi-Life Tour (Ft. Lauderdale)
- Fatality Fest (West Palm Beach)
- FIT Con (Melbourne)
- Florida Battle Con (Orlando)
- FX/The Florida Xtravaganza (Orlando)
- Gamewarp (Orlando)
- Houkocon (Port St. Lucie)
- Infinite Bits (Miami)
- JACON (Orlando)
- Janicon (Jacksonville)
- Knightrokon (Orlando)
- Kunicon/Otakucon (Miami)
- Meeting of the Mines Minecraft Convention (Orlando)
- Mugglecon (Orlando)
- Mythicon (Orlando)
- Naruto Trek (West Palm Beach)
- Omnicon (Ft. Lauderdale)
- Orlando Comic Expo (Orlando)
- PariahCon (Lakeland)
- Tachychon (Orlando)
- Trekfest (West Palm Beach)
- Trekon (Miami)
- Trek Happening (Ft. Lauderdale)
- Vulkon (Orlando & Tampa)
- Wizard World Miami (Miami)
- Wrath of Con (Panama City)
- Yasumicon (Miami)
- Zonacon/Tri-County Comic Con (Orlando)
NOTE: This list doesn’t include events that announced but never actually happened such as Apex Anime, Bold City Comic Con, Osarucon, Floatacon, etc.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: Thanks to all my “old school” convention fans on Facebook that helped with digging up the dead conventions from years’ past for my list.
Andrew Cramer
February 17, 2015 @ 9:50 AM
A bit short notice for you, but we have “SyFy Saturday” in Bartow this Saturday the 21st! It’s like a mini con, will be time travel themed and have cosplay and tons of Dr. Who paraphenelia.
Tom
February 20, 2015 @ 10:02 AM
@Andrew: Added.
Alison Berrios
September 10, 2015 @ 2:08 PM
PalmCon is September 26th and 27th. They have walking dead walker Chris Harrelson, Matthew Wood(General Grievous ), and Cat Taber (Padme TCW). Palmcon.net 🙂
My Annual List of Florida’s Pop Culture Events: 2021 – Geek That Travels
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