For those of you living under a rock, Dragon Con is a multi-media, pop-culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film second in size only to Comic-Con on the west coast. Held in Atlanta every Labor Day weekend, Dragon Con brings together fans from around the globe for 4 days of celebrity and fan-run panels, concerts, discussions, and let’s face it…good old-fashioned partying. Bring together 30,000 like-minded self-professed geeks for a 4 day celebration and what do you get? A party unlike any other.

As a self-professed geek who has attended Dragon Con several years in a row, I can tell you it’s the one trip I never miss and actually refer to it as our annual family vacation. Every year, Dragon Con outdoes the previous year with an enormous guest list of 300 plus celebrities from the world of media ranging from actors, writers, artists, and musicians with panels that range from question and answer sessions to how to write your own science fiction novel to costume contests, and autograph signings. Walking from one event to the next is like a parade of costumes as you see a vampire walking with Bender, Buffy, Angel and Spike having a soda between panels, Carmen San Diego browsing through the gitana displays, and Captain Jack Sparrow swaggering along with a pack of Storm Troopers. Every possible genre is represented.

There are no words to express exactly what Dragon Con is. My favorite thing is bringing along someone who has never attended (who we affectionately refer to as a “con virgin”) and watching their face as they take everything in for the first time. It’s a combination of awe, confusion, and “why the heck didn’t I come before?” that you can see cross their face that just lights up your own.
This year’s guest list promises to be one of the best yet with celebrities from Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Torchwood, Harry Potter, Firefly and many more slated to come. The celebrities are extremely approachable and friendly, and the autograph queues move quickly. The ballrooms where the panels are held have great acoustics and the panelists can be seen and heard from every angle. One of the best things I have seen year after year is the crowd control. With the thousands of people gathered in small spaces one would expect major congestion and problems arising from so many people trying to get to different places at the same time. Thankfully this isn’t the case at Dragon Con. The staff and the law enforcement on site are well organized, control the crowds and have set an easy to follow traffic flow, all while being courteous, which is rare to see in a crowd so large.

Yes, Dragon Con is crowded. Yes, you do a lot of walking to get from event to event. Yes, you sometimes have to wait in long lines. But is it worth it? HELL YES. This is an event unlike any other and if you are into anything from comic books to science fiction to gaming, this is definitely the one convention you have to attend and will return to year after year. Seriously, where else can you attend the Buffy Horror Picture Show while sitting next to Darth Vader and Buddy Christ?
So head to the official Dragon Con site (www.dragoncon.org) and order your membership today. It will be one weekend you will never forget.

Watch for a con report and review from when the staff here at White Powdered Doughnuts returns from the country’s best convention!