Dragon Con 2023
Atlanta, GA – August 31 through September 4, 2023

Dragon Con!

It’s typically an annual tradition for me, but it won’t be this year. I’m taking this year off for personal and family reasons, but I’d still like to support the convention where possible.

The convention app is available now – look for Dragon Con by Core-apps in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store – and will have the schedule of events soon. The list of confirmed guests, performers, artists, and attending professionals is available on the official Dragon Con site. That list and the events surrounding it will obviously be subject to the ongoing WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike.

Dragon Con itself takes place in downtown Atlanta spanning five hotels (Sheraton Atlanta Courtland Grand, Hilton Atlanta, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Hyatt Regency Atlanta, and Westin Peachtree Plaza) and the AmericasMart Atlanta exhibition center. The convention draws approximately 70,000 to 80,000 attendees (or more) annually and showcases one of the city’s most popular parades on Saturday morning at 10am. This year, the attendance numbers will be lower with an attendance cap between the reported 85,000 in 2019 and 65,000 in 2022.

Dragon Con prides itself on contributions to charity and the community. You can find more information about those efforts on their webpage. Each year, the convention partners with a local charity organization and this year’s partner is CURE Childhood Cancer. CURE’s mission is to conquer childhood cancer through funding targeted research while supporting patients and their families. Donations can be made at various locations around the convention, including donation buckets in each track room and contributions from the annual charity auctions. Dragon Con will match every donation up to $125,000.

The convention has previously hosted the Dragon Con Hustle, a virtual 5K conducted on the honor system. The registration fee is donated to the annual charity and each participant gets a physical medal two weeks after the convention ends. As of this writing, I haven’t seen a post about the event this year, but keep an eye out if you’re interested. You can run, walk, roll, or even skip your way to the goal, and all Dragon Con asks is for a progress update on social media with the #DragonConHustle hashtag.

Dragon Con also hosts one of the most successful blood drives with the donations going to the non-profit Lifesouth Community Blood Centers. Lifesouth serves 125 hospitals in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, and the Dragon Con blood drives routinely outperform those held at that big West Coast corporate convention. In exchange for your donation, you get a custom exclusive t-shirt.

If you’re new to the convention, consider visiting the Dragon Con Newbies group on Facebook. It is run by Kevin Bachelder, Sue Kisenwether, Kim McGibony, and me, and is an in-depth community resource for information about this massive (and sometimes overwhelming) event. Memberships (tickets) for this year’s convention are available, however memberships are limited.

Note: All Dragon Con schedules are tentative until the convention ends on Monday. Even then, things are a bit suspect.

I will miss you all this year. Please be safe and have a wonderful long weekend, and (fate willing) I’ll see you all again in 2024.