FanimeCon is an annual four-day anime convention held during May at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

over

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

weekend.

Programming

The convention typically offers an AMV contest, artist's alley, contests, cosplay chess, dances, dealer's room, formal ball, game room (arcade, console, PC, and tabletop), karaoke, maid cafe, masquerade, panels, screenings, a swap meet, tournaments, and workshops. The convention offers 24-hour programming, including gaming and video. FanimeCon held an art auction for the charity

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a C ...

in 2004. Charities that FanimeCon supported in 2011 included the American Red Cross of Silicon Valley, APA Family Support Services of San Francisco, Cancer Support Community, and

Japanese Red Cross Society The is the Japanese affiliate of the International Red Cross. The Imperial Family of Japan traditionally has supported the society, with the Empress as Honorary President and other imperial family members as vice presidents. Its headquarters ...

History

FanimeCon was first held in 1994 at

California State University, Hayward California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the 23-campus California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 post ...

, being run by several anime clubs.

Foothill College Foothill College is a public community college in Los Altos Hills, California. It is part of the Foothill–De Anza Community College District. It was founded on January 15, 1957, and offers 79 Associate degree programs, 1 Bachelor's degree ...

would also host the convention until moving to the Wyndham Hotel in San Jose for 1999. From 2000 to 2003 the

Santa Clara Convention Center The Santa Clara Convention Center is located in northern Santa Clara, California. It serves as one of the large meeting and convention facilities in Silicon Valley, with of meeting space. It was built in 1986 and expanded in 2009. The conventio ...

hosted FanimeCon. In 2004, FanimeCon moved to the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. That year, the convention brought to the local economy, growing to an estimated in 2013, and in 2014. Problems with the convention in 2009 included Christian protests and over purchasing of artist alley tables, with the protesters also returning in 2010. In 2011, Saturday saw three hour registration waits, problems with the convention not using a printed schedule, outside religious protesters, and the Marriott fire alarm being pulled on Monday morning. Registration was affected in 2012 by a power outage. FanimeCon's 20th anniversary in 2014 was marked by San Jose having Fanime Day on May 23, 2014. The masquerade in 2015 suffered from technical issues. FanimeCon's masquerade for 2016 was scheduled to run for five hours. FanimeCon 2020 was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. FanimeCon was changed to a virtual event for 2021.

Event history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanimecon Anime conventions in the United States Annual events in Silicon Valley Culture of San Jose, California San Francisco Bay Area conventions Recurring events established in 1994 1994 establishments in California Tourist attractions in Santa Clara County, California Tourist attractions in San Jose, California