Celebrating 40 Years of Dragon Con Part 3
It’s happened. It’s finally happened. Geeks are cool. Robert Downey, Jr. looked into the camera and said, “I am Iron Man,” and audiences responded with a resounding “please sir, may I have some more?” Ned Stark lost his head and the Rains of Castamere fell on a Red Wedding as fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire series watched with glee while friends and families experienced the shocking twists of Game of Thrones for the first time. Twilight fever gripped the nation, opening the door for the YA Lit genre to dominate book stores for the next decade. Felicia Day, Queen Geek herself, asked us if we wanted to date her avatar and told us, in no uncertain terms, that now we were the ones who were cool. Geek culture became so mainstream, it almost can’t even be called ours anymore. It simply is the culture. What did Dragon Con look like, as the world started to clue in to what we’d known all along? How did it handle the rising numbers and the ever-growing roster of fandoms all vying for places on its schedule? Well… let’s just say it wasn’t always easy.
Welcome to the Mainstream
Year 21 (2007)
The Spartans are here. After the Spring release of 300, somewhere between 30-40 Spartans officially march in the parade, but their tight marching choreography and iconic look pull other Spartans out of the crowd to walk alongside them, leading to a massive phalanx going down the streets of Atlanta. They will become a staple of the Dragon Con parade going forward.
Year 22 (2008)
The Sheraton Atlanta officially joins the roster of host hotels, with registration and badge pick up being relocated there to ease congestion in the Marriott and Hyatt. Edward James Olmos and several of his cast mates crash the Colonial Fleet party to drink and dance with fans. The first Iron Man suits start appearing at the convention after the May release of the first film in the MCU.
Year 23 (2009)
A star-studded year for the record books. Trek Track brings in Shatner, Nimoy, Stewart, and Mulgrew; Tom Felton draws hordes of Harry Potter fans to the convention, and Felicia Day arrives like Geek Royalty amidst the height of popularity for The Guild. Attendance is estimated between 30,000–35,000 fans.
Year 24 (2010)
Excelsior! Stan Lee comes to Dragon Con, and the crowd surges to over 40,000. The PBS film Four Days at Dragon Con airs locally, bringing mainstream attention to the convention and drawing in massive crowds of locals for the parade and to linger outside the hotels watching the cosplayers go by. The first Night at the Aquarium is held in partnership with the Georgia Aquarium.
Year 25 (2011)
The 25th Anniversary of the convention is upon us. Carrie Fisher, Stan Lee, and Christopher Lloyd join the festivities. In honor of the 25th Anniversary, the City of Atlanta makes an official proclamation to recognize the cultural impact of Dragon Con. Banners are hung on lamp posts throughout downtown.
Year 26 (2012)
Attendance tops 50,000. Dragon Con makes the decision to a single charitable fund raiser every year. The first organization chosen by the convention is the ALS Association, Georgia Chapter. A coincidence of timing brings hundreds of football fans to the convention, leading to an eclectic mix of cosplayers and bright orange Tennessee fans on the convention floor.
Year 27 (2013)
An important year for the convention, corporate restructuring dissolves the original Dragon*Con company, removing one of its original founders, and freeing the convention from ongoing controversy and boycotts. The * is removed and the company is reformed as Dragon Con, Inc. At the convention, a pair of now legendary cosplayers arrive dressed as Marriott Carpet soldiers, and proceed to army crawl through the lobby, even as the hotel begins quietly replacing its iconic carpet.
Year 28 (2014)
In just two years, the convention adds another 10,000 people to its population, topping 60,000 attendees. The app is officially launched after soft launching in 2012. Another collision of football fans and con attendees occurs, this time with less amusing results. Drunken fans flood the lobbies, heckling and grabbing cosplayers and resulting in the first recorded ejection of a person from the premises. Going forward, Dragon Con will have strict badge and key checks at every entrance to the host hotels.
Year 29 (2015)
The death of a legend… the Marriott Carpet is removed. While chunks would cling on in various corners, most of it is missing by the time of the convention, with the last square being ripped out just before Christmas. Dumpster divers will do much over this period to preserve the iconic carpet for years to come.
Year 30 (2016)
We’re inching closer and closer to 80,000 guests. This year sees the introduction of the Dragon Con Awards, the People’s Choice of fandom. Thursday officially joins the Dragon Con schedule, with Wednesday becoming the new Thursday. A cult is born as cosplayers arrive wearing the iconic Marriott Carpet. Thirty years are behind us, and the future looks bright.
These were my nostalgia years. I remember them so vividly. I remember the 20-foot dragon breathing fire at the masquerade, and I remember the jostling, screaming football fans. And oh… do I ever remember the loss of our carpet. But the convention on the whole ended this decade of its history in a glowing place. It had shed the controversies of the past, its population was continuing to grow, and its guest list was becoming ever more impressive with each passing year. The city was right to note its cultural impact, not just on Atlanta but on all of fandom. Each convention across the country seems to have its specific niche, and Dragon Con was becoming known, by some, as the party school of the convention scene. But for those of us who were there? We know it was so much more than that. (Though it was, admittedly, a lot of partying as well.)
In the next decade, the convention will continue to grow even as the pandemic looms. How will it weather the lockdown and re-opening?
For a complete list of sources, please click here.
