A Bittercon for Kanpai!Con
It appears that Kanpai!Con is actually going to happen this year, unlike most of the promoter's other cons since the pandemic began. It's a smallish anime con held in Omaha, Nebraska, and we went to the first two, before we had a falling-out with the promoter because he preferred to shoot the messenger rather than solve a safety problem.
Which means that if that safety issue hadn't come up in the 2019 AnimeZap con, we might well be over there right now. On the other hand, it's possible that we might've cut it out of our lineup. We'd added it with the expectation that it would grow in subsequent years, but I heard that attendance was pretty much stagnant in 2019 and last year. Especially given the distance we had to drive to get there, and the ever-present possibility of bad weather, we could very well have decided it just wasn't worth it, especially since they've had to cut attendance in half to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
It's a rather bitter thought, not just because of the loss of possible income, but because that convention really had some potential for growth. It was enough later than Anime Nebrascon that it shouldn't have been in direct competition, and would have attracted much of the same community, but with different guests and activities.
Instead, we'll be waiting until late April and early May to see whether Visioncon will be happening, down in Springfield, Missouri. At least their switch to later dates mean that there's less likelihood of having to deal with winter driving in the Ozarks, but it still leaves us with that much more downtime at the beginning of the year.
Which means that if that safety issue hadn't come up in the 2019 AnimeZap con, we might well be over there right now. On the other hand, it's possible that we might've cut it out of our lineup. We'd added it with the expectation that it would grow in subsequent years, but I heard that attendance was pretty much stagnant in 2019 and last year. Especially given the distance we had to drive to get there, and the ever-present possibility of bad weather, we could very well have decided it just wasn't worth it, especially since they've had to cut attendance in half to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
It's a rather bitter thought, not just because of the loss of possible income, but because that convention really had some potential for growth. It was enough later than Anime Nebrascon that it shouldn't have been in direct competition, and would have attracted much of the same community, but with different guests and activities.
Instead, we'll be waiting until late April and early May to see whether Visioncon will be happening, down in Springfield, Missouri. At least their switch to later dates mean that there's less likelihood of having to deal with winter driving in the Ozarks, but it still leaves us with that much more downtime at the beginning of the year.