Gamers & Sci-Fi’ers Drawn to PopCon Indy
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAfter canceling its in-person convention last summer, PopCon Indy is back for its eighth anniversary at the Indiana Convention Center. The three-day pop culture and comic convention kicks off Friday and is the first event of its kind in Indy since the pandemic began. From superheroes and sci-fi characters to tabletop and video games, the event offers a little bit of everything in many genres.
“PopCon Indy prides itself on being open and accepting of everyone, which is why we focus on a variety of different fandoms. There truly is something for everyone at PopCon,” Carl Doninger, president of PopCon Indy, said in a news release.
Doninger says in its first year, the event attracted about 1,000 attendees, growing to 8,000 in subsequent years and peaking at 30,000 prior to the pandemic.
In an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, Doninger said the convention provides an economic boost to downtown Indy.
“Everything benefits us and all the people that participated in the convention, but the economic impact of Central Indiana, we’re locals, we’re truly locals,” said Doninger. “We love bringing in that kind of economic impact.”
He says PopCon Indy is attracting fans from all 50 states and nine countries.
The convention will have celebrity guests, anime, costuming, fantasy, film festival, sci-fi, TV, and video gaming programming. The event gives vendors, creators, and game developers from all aspects of pop culture a way to find new audiences.
The convention will host a variety of celebrities, including Kate Flannery and David Koechner from the NBC sitcom The Office, Jim O’Heir from NBC’s Parks and Recreation, and Jim Cummings, the voice actor of Winnie the Pooh, among others.
“We’ve got the voice actors for Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd and the Futurarama cast. And we’ve got Star Wars voice actors,” shared Doninger.
In addition to the convention itself, PopCon Indy is also hosting its second annual international film festival, offering a view of work from several pop culture genres, including sci-fi, anime/animation, and action/adventure. Organizers were forced to make it an online event last year.
“We were able to convert it to virtual and the filmmakers loved it. So this year, we got a ton of submissions from 21 countries. We got well over 100 Films submitted. We’re slating 65 to 70, you’re actually going to be able to watch them in person,” said Doninger.
Unlike other conventions that are attracted to Indy, Doninger expresses pride in that PopCon Indy originated in central Indiana and he plans to grow it here.
“At its core, PopCon Indy is a celebration of Indianapolis and everything our great city has to offer.”
Click here to learn more about PopCon Indy.