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

1. JAN 3, Sukoshi Con Ft. Walton Beach (Ft. Walton Beach)
2. JAN 9-10, Auburndale City Con (Auburndale)
3. JAN 11, Deland Comics & Collectibles Show (Deland)
4. JAN 16-18, Magic City Comic Con (Miami)
5. JAN 16-18, Otronicon (Orlando)
6. JAN 31, BTL Collectibles Show (Miami)
7. FEB 5-8, Coastal Magic Convention (Daytona Beach)
8. FEB 7-8, SwampCon (Gainesville)
9. FEB 8, Retr-O-Rama Collectibles Show (Jacksonville)
10. FEB 13-15, Shock! Pop! Comic Con (Ft. Lauderdale)
11. FEB 20-22, Florida Arcade & Pinball Expo (Ft. Lauderdale)
12. FEB 21, Pulp Adventure Con (Ft. Lauderdale)
13. FEB 21, SyFy Saturday (Bartow)
14. FEB 21-22, Orlando Anime Day (Orlando)
15. FEB 27-MAR 1, Pensacon (Pensacola)
16. MAR 7, Jacksonville Anime Day (Jacksonville)
17. MAR 14, Otaku-Ya! Anime Festival & Flea Market (Jacksonville)
18. MAR 14-15, ALT*Con (Tallahassee)
19. MAR 14, Cosmic Comic Fest (Tampa)
20. MAR 21-22, Geek Fest Florida (Boca Raton)
21. MAR 28, Mandarin MiniCon (Jacksonville)
22. MAR 28-29, FreeCon (Tallahassee)
23. APR 10-12, Megacon (Orlando)
24. APR 24-26, Florida Anime Experience (Orlando)
25. MAY 1-3, Sukoshi Con: Destination Anime (Panama City)
26. MAY 1-3, Jacksonville Arcade Expo (Jacksonville)
27. MAY 1-3, OASIS (Orlando)
28. MAY 8-10, Collective Con (Jacksonville)
29. MAY 15-17, May-Hem (Orlando)
30. MAY 17, North Florida Comic Con (Jacksonville)
31. MAY 22-24, Omni Expo (Orlando)
32. MAY 23-24, Space Coast Nerd Fest (Melbourne)
33. MAY 29-31, Fandom Unleashed (Orlando)
34. JUN 5-7, Sukoshi Con: Anime Paradise (Fort Lauderdale)
35. JUN 6-7, Hero Hype Con (Miami)
36. JUN 7, Daytona Beach Comic Convention, Summer (Daytona Beach)
37. JUN 11-14, Metrocon (Tampa)
38. JUN 20-21, Ocala Comic Con (Ocala)
39. JUN 24-28. Dice Tower Gaming Con (Orlando)
40. JUN 25-28, Florida Supercon (Miami)
41. JUN 27-28, ArcadiaCon (Fort Lauderdale)
42. JUN 27-28, Walker Stalker Con (Orlando)
43. JUL 10-12, The Grand Brony Gala (Tampa)
44. JUL 17-19, Ancient City Con (Jacksonville)
45. JUL 17-19, Southern Media Con (Lakeland)
46. JUL 24-26, Fanboy Expo (Tampa)
47. JUL 30-AUG 2, GeekyCon (Orlando)
48. JUL 31-AUG 2, Megaplex (Orlando)
49. JUL 31-AUG 2, Tampa Bay Comic Con (Tampa)
50. AUG 7-9, Orlando Nerd Fest (Orlando)
51. AUG 8, Florida Comics Experience (Melbourne)
52. AUG 8-9, Pensacola Para Con (Pensacola)
53. AUG 14-16, Anime Festival Orlando (Orlando)
54. OCT 2-4, Mizucon (Miami)
55. OCT 2-4, Wizard World’s Fort Lauderdale Comic Con (Fort Lauderdale)
56. OCT 9-11, Necronomicon (Tampa)
57. OCT 17, Pinellas Comic and Maker Con (St. Petersburg)
58. OCT 23-25, ANIMATE! Miami (Miami)
59. OCT 30-NOV 1, Hurricane Who (Orlando)
60. OCT 30-NOV 1, Spooky Empire (Orlando)
61. OCT 31-NOV 1, WasabiCon (Jacksonville)
62. NOV 6-8, FANdom Con (Fort Walton Beach)
63. NOV 6-8, ShadoCon (Palm Harbor)
64. NOV 13-15, Rangerstop’s Superhero Toy & Comic Con (Orlando)
65. NOV 20-22, Anime South (Fort Walton Beach)
66. DEC 6, Daytona Beach Comic Convention, Winter (Daytona Beach)

TBD.  These are conventions I don’t have confirmation from regarding confirmed/returning dates.

1. Amelia Con – NOTE: They are returning in 2016.
2. Anime South (Fort Walton Beach) – NOTE: 2015 Cancelled. No news on 2016.
3. Away Mission (Orlando/Tampa)
4. BelleCON (Jacksonvile) – NOTE: 2015 Cancelled, Allegedly returning 2016.
5. Chibi Pa (Hollywood)
6. CreativeCon (Panama City)
7. CONjure (Orlando)
8. Creator Owned Expo (Ft. Lauderdale)
9. Galaxy Comic Con (Tampa)
10. Holiday Matsuri (Orlando)
11. Khaotic Kon (Tampa) – Website is gone and Facebook is covered in spam. Rumor is it isn’t coming back.
12. LameCon (Land O’ Lakes)
13. Miami Hurricon (Miami)
14. Mini Con (Plantation)
15. NakamaCon (Panama City)
16. Orlando Toy & Comic Con (Orlando)
17. Palm Con (West Palm Beach)
18. Rapier Con (Jacksonville)
19. Salty Bay Con (Tampa)
20. Sands of Anime (Cocoa Beach)
21. Sci-Con (Tampa)
22. Tampa Anime Day (Tampa)
23. Time Lord Fest (Tampa)
24. Ultracon of South Florida (Ft. Lauderdale)
25. Winter Garden Wonderfest (Winter Garden)
26. 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.