This year’s Otakon has come to a close, and with it, the end of an era has also occurred. Otakon 2016 will be the last time the convention will take place in Baltimore, at least until the contract with the convention center in D.C. runs out in 2024. That’s a long time from now – and to be frank, I doubt that Charm City would be able to renovate the space the convention center is in by that time to an extent where Otakon would come back.

It’s a bittersweet feeling. While I’m sure that the convention will be spectacular in the new space – having been to the convention center in D.C., I know how much more spacious it is – it will be somewhat bizarre to go to Otakon and not have it be in Baltimore.

Otakon 2002 was my very first convention. I was just getting into anime and manga, and one of my neighborhood friends had heard of the convention. I went with her and her family, and it was at that show that I was introduced to what cosplay really was. I was blown away by the level of craftsmanship that was on display. Of course, I was also introduced to a ton of new series I hadn’t even heard of before.

By the following year I was cosplaying in a group with friends, and I haven’t really stopped ever since I started in that hobby. The show was also getting much bigger as more anime inched further into the public consciousness, and I always thought it was cool that the largest anime show on the east coast was in my hometown.

I never felt that Otakon really changed too terribly much over the years that I’ve been attending, but I always enjoyed that fact. It was kind of an “old reliable” situation there. I knew where everything was, which exhibitors would be showing off new content, where the biggest (and most crowded) spots for cosplay gatherings would be, and so on. Even the weather managed to stay consistent, with Otakon weekend seemingly almost always being one of the hottest of the summer. I tended to not make great decisions on the costume front there, going so far as to one time wearing a 12-pound ballgown in the middle of July. I wouldn’t recommend that.

By having Otakon in Baltimore, I was able to show off my convention friends – most of whom lived out of town – some of my favorite spots in the city. Otakon became as much of a friends reunion as it was an anime convention. I’d see so many of the same people year after year, that eventually we started keeping in touch outside of the show, and fortunately most of those people are still present in my life even today. There are people who I first met at Otakon 2002 who I’m still friends with today!

While the move to D.C. is definitely the right one, with the Baltimore Convention Center barely able to contain Otakon anymore, it will feel somewhat empty to not have it in Maryland anymore. I made a lot of memories at the BCC via Otakon, and it’s sad to see it move on. This year’s con seemed like it went off without a hitch; it was a perfect farewell to the city that treated this show so well for more than a decade. 

-Carrie Wood