Convention & Expo Events

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Coming Soon

29 days away

RuPaul's Drag Race LIVE! Las Vegas

Jul 31, 2026 3555 Las Vegas Blvd, Flamingo Show…

Flamingo Showroom at Flamingo Las Vegas in Las Vegas on July 31, 2026: the kind of drag show where the performance is shaped by the audience response in real time, which means it exists exactly once. RuPaul's Drag Race LIVE! Las Vegas performs at Flamingo Showroom at Flamingo Las Vegas in Las Vegas on July 31, 2026. Drag performance is one of the few art forms that requires a live room to work — the energy between performer and crowd is the performance.

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🌎 Nation's Best 30 days away

Otakon 2026 — Washington, DC

Aug 1 – Aug 3, 2026 Walter E. Washington Convention Ce…

Otakon is one of the largest anime and manga conventions in the United States — 30,000 or more attendees converging on the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in the nation's capital each August for three days of Japanese pop culture, live music concerts, industry panels, and the kind of collective fandom energy that makes major conventions worth traveling for. Founded in 1994, Otakon is not a newcomer: it is one of the conventions that helped build American anime fandom from a scattered subculture into a mainstream cultural force. The convention center is enormous, and Otakon fills it completely. Dealer hall, artist alley, panel rooms running simultaneously from morning to late night, masquerade competition with production-level cosplay, and Japanese music concerts that would be standalone events anywhere else. Washington DC adds a dimension most conventions cannot offer: the Smithsonian museums are within walking distance, the National Mall is ten minutes away, and the city's restaurant scene is world-class. People regularly extend trips by a day on each side to take advantage of where Otakon is, not just what it is. The convention crowd is multigenerational — fans who have been attending since the 1990s alongside teenagers experiencing their first major con, all in the same dealer hall, all looking for the same things. Otakon is worth it if anime and manga fandom is a meaningful part of your life and you want to experience that community at full scale. The programming depth is exceptional — Japanese guests, American voice actors, industry representatives, and screenings of films not yet in US release. If you have only attended smaller regional conventions, Otakon is the upgrade that shows you what the community looks like when it is fully assembled. The energy on the convention floor during peak hours has to be experienced to be understood. Book your hotel before registration even opens — DC hotels near the convention center fill months in advance for Otakon weekend. Registration opens well in advance at otakon.com — early registration rates are significantly cheaper than at-door pricing. Badges are mailed to pre-registered attendees. Washington DC in early August is humid and warm; the convention center is well air-conditioned, but outdoor transit between hotels and the center requires planning for summer heat. Metro access is excellent — the Gallery Place-Chinatown stop puts you steps from the convention center entrance. Download the Otakon app before the event: the full panel schedule drops the week before, and popular panels fill their rooms early. There are conventions that cater to anime fans, and then there is Otakon — a convention that has been central to how American anime fandom organized and sustained itself across three decades. The community at Otakon is not performing enthusiasm. It is the real thing, built by people who kept showing up year after year. Attending is not just seeing panels and buying merchandise. It is joining one of the most durable fan communities in American pop culture. Tickets and badge registration at otakon.com — August 1 through 3, 2026, Washington DC. Early registration closes long before the event; buy as soon as it opens.

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57 Gathering

30 days away

Anime California 2026

Aug 1 – Aug 2, 2026 Cancelled Long Beach Convention Center, 300 …

Anime California at the Long Beach Convention Center is the SoCal alternative for the anime fan who finds AX overwhelming — same categories (cosplay, panels, artist alley, gaming, Japanese culture) at a scale where you can actually see everything. August 1-2. An hour from San Diego, right on the Long Beach waterfront. Tickets from $35 at animecalifornia.com. The cosplay contest Saturday night is legitimately competitive.

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13 Gathering

30 days away

Collect-A-Con Los Angeles 2026

Aug 1 – Aug 2, 2026 Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…

Collect-A-Con Los Angeles 2026 brings the nation's largest trading card, anime, and pop culture convention back to the Los Angeles Convention Center on August 1-2, 2026. With over 900 dealer tables spread across West Hall A, this is the ultimate destination for collectors of Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, One Piece, and sports cards, alongside anime merchandise, Funko POPs, vintage toys, comics, and rare video games. Whether you are hunting for a holographic Charizard, completing your set of One Piece cards, or browsing through walls of nostalgia, Collect-A-Con creates the kind of floor experience that turns casual fans into lifelong collectors. The event features live box break events, trading sessions, celebrity guest appearances, and exclusive convention-only merchandise drops. The Los Angeles Convention Center West Hall A offers easy parking access and is centrally located for collectors from across Southern California. LA, Orange County, the Inland Empire, and San Diego all have strong collector communities that converge here every year. Two-day passes are available on Ticketmaster. Doors open 10am both days. Come ready to trade, hunt, and discover. Admission: General admission and two-day passes available via Ticketmaster. VIP early entry options available.

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30 days away

SheroCon 2026 — Van Nuys, CA

Aug 1, 2026 7900 Balboa Blvd Ste B, Van Nuys, …

There are rooms in the comics and gaming world where the art on the walls and the people running the tables look different from every other convention. SheroCon exists because someone decided to build one. Organized by Shero Comics, SheroCon is a half-day convention celebrating women, non-binary, and femme-presenting creators across comics, anime, gaming, and creative tech. Not a panel about inclusion. Not a track added to a larger convention. A room that is entirely theirs — with artists, cosplayers, tabletop players, and workshops oriented around the communities that are underrepresented at every other show. The venue is part of the experience: Valley Relics Museum in Van Nuys houses decades of Southern California neon, vintage signage, and pop culture ephemera. The backdrop alone makes SheroCon unlike anything you have seen at a hotel ballroom convention. Whether you are a creator looking for your people, a cosplayer looking for a stage, or someone who has walked into convention dealer halls and felt like a tourist — this is the room that was built for you. Saturday, August 1, 2026 · 12PM–6PM · Valley Relics Museum, Van Nuys · All ages · Free entry (premium tiers available)

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31 days away

RuPaul's Drag Race LIVE! Las Vegas

Aug 2, 2026 3555 Las Vegas Blvd, Flamingo Show…

Flamingo Showroom at Flamingo Las Vegas in Las Vegas on August 2, 2026: the kind of drag show where the performance is shaped by the audience response in real time, which means it exists exactly once. RuPaul's Drag Race LIVE! Las Vegas performs at Flamingo Showroom at Flamingo Las Vegas in Las Vegas on August 2, 2026. Drag performance is one of the few art forms that requires a live room to work — the energy between performer and crowd is the performance.

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16 Gathering

34 days away

Tiki Oasis 2026 — San Diego

Aug 5 – Aug 9, 2026 Weekend pass $100-200 · Night tickets $35-65 500 Hotel Circle North, San Diego,…

Tiki Oasis is the world's largest tiki culture convention and one of the most unusual community gatherings in San Diego. Since 2001, the event has brought together collectors, artists, musicians, bartenders, fashion enthusiasts, and die-hard aficionados of mid-century Polynesian pop culture for a five-day immersive celebration at the Town and Country Resort in Mission Valley. Each year centers on a theme that shapes the art, entertainment, vendor selection, and fashion. Attendees dress in full tiki regalia — vintage Hawaiian shirts, muumuus, leis, and elaborate cosplay. The convention features live exotica and tiki-adjacent musical performances, rum and cocktail seminars led by some of the country's top bartenders, an extensive vendor marketplace with handmade ceramics and collectibles, and art exhibitions from the world's best tiki artists. The tiki community is one of the most coherent subcultures in American pop culture — defined by a shared aesthetic vocabulary, a love of craftsmanship, and a genuine reverence for the mid-century obsession with tropical fantasy. If you've ever felt the pull of a mug shaped like a skull and a rum drink named after a deity, this is your people. Tiki Oasis 2026 runs August 5–9 at Town and Country Resort, 500 Hotel Circle North, San Diego. Passes available at tikioasis.com. Individual night tickets and full weekend passes available. The pool parties and live band performances are the highest-demand events — book early.

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27 Gathering

35 days away

Agenda Show Long Beach 2026

Aug 6 – Aug 7, 2026 Long Beach Convention Center, 300 …

Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E Ocean Blvd. August 6-8, 2026. Agenda Show Long Beach — three days at the convention center that essentially invented how streetwear, action sports, and lifestyle brands talk to each other in person, for a show that built an industry's calendar. The fall Agenda edition brings a different inventory than the January show. Brands arrive from summer with product lines that didn't exist eight months ago, concepts that started as samples in someone's garage, collabs that look different in August light than they will in any lookbook. The floor rewards people who walk it slowly — the small table in the corner sometimes draws the longest conversations, and the brands showing their second or third season tend to have more to say than the ones with the biggest booths. agendashow.com for registration. August 6-8. The Long Beach Convention Center handles this scale cleanly. If you're in the industry, this is where Q4 decisions get made over a handshake. If you're adjacent to it, this is where you see what Q4 looks like before it arrives anywhere else. Be on the floor when it opens.

Coming Soon

35 days away

RuPaul's Drag Race LIVE! Las Vegas

Aug 6, 2026 3555 Las Vegas Blvd, Flamingo Show…

Flamingo Showroom at Flamingo Las Vegas in Las Vegas on August 6, 2026: the kind of drag show where the performance is shaped by the audience response in real time, which means it exists exactly once. RuPaul's Drag Race LIVE! Las Vegas performs at Flamingo Showroom at Flamingo Las Vegas in Las Vegas on August 6, 2026. Drag performance is one of the few art forms that requires a live room to work — the energy between performer and crowd is the performance.

Coming Soon

12 Gathering

🌎 Nation's Best 35 days away

DEF CON 34 2026 — Las Vegas, NV

Aug 6 – Aug 10, 2026 380 Las Vegas Convention Center, 3150 …

More critical infrastructure vulnerabilities have been disclosed at DEF CON than anywhere else on earth. The conference where that happens — 34 editions in now — is held in Las Vegas every August and draws the largest gathering of security researchers, hackers, and engineers in the world. DEF CON is unlike any conference you've attended. Walk in and you'll find badge puzzle hunts that thousands of people spend the entire conference solving; lock-picking villages where anyone can learn to pick a padlock in minutes; talks that expose critical vulnerabilities in systems we trust daily — power grids, voting machines, medical devices, cars. The crowd is a mix of 20-year-old prodigies, retired intelligence professionals, and corporate security teams sitting in the same row. There is no dress code except the absence of one. The culture rewards curiosity over credentials. DEF CON has the energy of a music festival crossed with a graduate thesis defense — and the hallway conversations may be more valuable than either. If you've ever wondered how systems get broken — and how they get fixed — DEF CON is worth the trip to Las Vegas. This is for technologists, security professionals, students, and curious people who want to understand the infrastructure of modern life by learning its failure modes. It is not for people who need structured agendas and sponsored lanyards. DEF CON is self-organized, intentionally weird, and deliberately unwelcoming to corporate gatekeeping. If you've ever googled "how does that hack actually work" — you belong here. Register early — badge prices increase at the door and can exceed $400. Cash is preferred and sometimes required. The badges themselves are puzzles; experienced attendees spend all four days cracking them. Bring comfortable shoes — the Las Vegas Convention Center spans multiple halls. DEF CON runs four specialized villages simultaneously (Wireless, AI, Hardware, Social Engineering) and you will miss most of them. That's part of the culture: nobody sees everything. Bring a way to share contact information — the hallway conversations at DEF CON have launched more security careers than any job board. DEF CON is on Falkor's Nation's Best list because it's one of those rare places where the world is being actively changed and anyone can walk in and watch it happen. The mainstream technology industry spends billions on security theater. DEF CON spends four days showing you exactly how it fails — and then showing you how to fix it. If you've ever felt that the systems you rely on are more fragile than anyone admits, you're right. DEF CON is the room where people say so. Tickets and registration at defcon.org. August 6–9, 2026, Las Vegas Convention Center.

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35 days away

Shakespeare Pub Quiz Night — August 06

Aug 6, 2026 Shakespeare Pub & Grille, 3701 Ind…

Shakespeare Pub Quiz Nights run every Thursday at 7 PM at the Shakespeare Pub & Grille in Mission Hills — San Diego's most consistent and longest-running pub quiz, drawing teams of up to six for a competitive general knowledge trivia night with themed rounds, cash prizes, and the kind of regular crowd that has been coming long enough to develop real rivalries. The format is structured: multiple rounds of general knowledge questions with themed rounds mixed in throughout the night. The host keeps the pace moving, the scoring is honest, and the prizes at the end are real — gift cards for first and second place, and the kind of bragging rights that a regular pub quiz crowd actually respects. Sign-ups start at 6 PM; the quiz kicks off at 7 PM sharp. Teams of one to six people. Shakespeare Pub & Grille, 3701 India St, San Diego, CA 92103. Mission Hills neighborhood, just north of Little Italy. Street parking on India St and surrounding streets. Free to play — just show up with your team. Prizes for first and second place. The regulars arrive early and take the same tables every week, which tells you something about what kind of room this is.

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18 Gathering

36 days away

Midsummer Scream 2026: Horror Musicals

Aug 7 – Aug 9, 2026 35.0 Long Beach Convention Center, 300 …

Midsummer Scream, the West Coast's largest Halloween and horror convention, returns to the Long Beach Convention Center August 7-9, 2026, with the theme 'Horror Musicals.' Now in its tenth year, the event has grown into a three-day destination for haunted attraction designers, horror film fans, cosplayers, collectors, and anyone who lives for the season year-round. The Hall of Shadows, the convention's signature attraction, runs all three days across a massive darkened section of the convention center. More than a dozen fully produced haunted experiences and haunt displays are open inside, included with all badge types, no separate ticket required. It is the largest indoor haunt zone in California outside of the October season itself. The show floor features more than 350 vendors and artists offering horror-themed costumes, seasonal decor, original artwork, vintage collectibles, props, and franchise merchandise. Celebrity guests for 2026 include Matthew Lillard, Barry Bostwick, and Jasmin Savoy Brown. A special 20th anniversary celebration of Repo! The Genetic Opera is scheduled with director Darren Lynn Bousman and actor Bill Moseley confirmed. Panel programming covers haunt design, genre cinema, practical effects, cosplay construction, and industry Q&As. The Long Beach Convention Center is at 300 E Ocean Blvd, minutes from the waterfront. Weekend and single-day passes available online in advance.

Geekin Out Pop Culture Convention — La Mirada August 2026

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37 days away

Geekin Out Pop Culture Convention — La Mirada August 2026

Aug 8, 2026 Holiday Inn La Mirada, 14299 Fires…

Geekin Out is Southern California's ultimate toy and pop culture convention, held at the Holiday Inn La Mirada on August 8, 2026. Organized by Toy Depot, this one-day convention brings together collectors and fans of vintage toys, action figures, comics, retro video games, rare collectibles, and pop culture memorabilia from across the decades. The convention floor features vendors specializing in everything from original 1980s action figures and vintage board games to modern collectible figures and custom fan art. A Creator Alley gives independent artists and craftspeople dedicated space to sell original work directly to attendees. The event is family-friendly, with free parking in the hotel lot. Geekin Out hits a specific collector sweet spot that larger conventions miss — it is focused enough to attract serious collectors with deep inventory, but accessible enough for casual fans who want to browse. The La Mirada location makes it a convenient option for collectors from the South Bay, Orange County, and the San Gabriel Valley. Doors open at 9am, convention runs until 6pm. Advance ticket pricing available through Eventbrite.

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34 Gathering

37 days away

LA Zine Fest 2026 — Los Angeles

Aug 8 – Aug 9, 2026 Free admission Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…

LA Zine Fest is what happens when you take the energy of a record fair, the intimacy of a farmers market, and fill it entirely with people who make things by hand because they cannot imagine not making them. This is the annual gathering of the Los Angeles independent publishing community — hundreds of zine makers, small press artists, illustrators, and indie comics creators sharing tables in one of the most genuinely countercultural events the city produces each year. A zine is a self-published work in any medium — usually printed, usually small, always made by someone with something to say that couldn't wait for a publisher to agree. LA Zine Fest is where those things live in the world for one day: comics that process grief, essay zines about niche obsessions, poetry collections that wouldn't survive an algorithm, art books that exist in an edition of 50. The people selling them are the people who made them. The conversation is built in. This is also where the indie comics creator wave is most visible — the generation of artists choosing the small-print-run table over the licensing deal. If you're curious about what cultural production looks like when it hasn't been optimized for a platform, this is the room. Free admission. Los Angeles Convention Center, 2026. Tables from artists across the country. Bring a canvas bag and a willingness to talk to strangers about their obsessions.

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37 days away

San Diego Anime Con 2026

Aug 8 – Aug 10, 2026 Town and Country Resort, 500 Hotel…

The anime community deserves a weekend that is theirs, not the overflow from someone else's convention. San Diego Anime Con was built on exactly that conviction -- depth over spectacle. While Comic-Con dominates the Convention Center in July, SDAC gives anime fans their own room at the Town and Country Resort: panels on currently airing series, cosplay contests judged by working cosplayers, an artist alley where fan artists sell original prints, and screenings of films that will not hit US streaming for months. No Hollywood panels competing for attention. No six-hour Hall H lines. Just anime -- the shows, the art, the community, the culture. The Town and Country offers on-site parking and hotel rooms for out-of-towners making a weekend of it. August 8-10, 2026. Registration required; badges available online.

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37 days away

Let's KCON Day 1 — Fan Cupsleeve Meetup

Aug 8, 2026 1960 N Tustin St, Orange, CA 92865

KCON LA 2026 does not begin when the doors open at the LA Convention Center. For the fans who have been planning this for months, it begins here — at a boba shop in Orange County, over cupsleeves and community, on the day of the first night. The Let's KCON Day 1 Fan Cupsleeve Meetup at bobaTEAque is a fan-organized gathering for KCON LA 2026 attendees on August 8, the day of KCON's first night. Community-designed cupsleeves for the Day 1 artist lineup, fan-made event goods, and a space to meet other K-pop fans before the convention begins. These pre-KCON gatherings have become part of how the SoCal K-pop community experiences the festival — the pre-show that makes the show bigger. bobaTEAque in Orange has established itself as a regular host for K-pop fan community events in the OC. The space is built for long visits, comfortable seating, and the kind of unhurried afternoon that fan meetups require. If you are attending KCON LA 2026 on Day 1 and want to start with your community, this is the gathering point. August 8, 2026 · 1:00 PM–6:00 PM · bobaTEAque · 1960 N Tustin St, Orange, CA · Free admission

Little Tokyo Anime and Culture Night -- Los Angeles August 2026

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20 Gathering

37 days away

Little Tokyo Anime and Culture Night -- Los Angeles August 2026

Aug 8, 2026 327 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles is the oldest Japanese American community in the country and on weekend evenings it functions as the unofficial gathering point for LA-area anime and Japanese culture fans. The stretch of 1st and 2nd Street between Central and Alameda runs izakayas, ramen shops, Anime Jungle with dedicated anime merchandise, Kinokuniya Books, and coffee shops where people sit for hours discussing shows. The monthly Anime and Culture Night draws the community that lives here year-round, not just the convention crowd that shows up twice a year. Street performers, pop-up cosplay groups, and informal meetups fill the sidewalks from early evening into the night. Browse Anime Jungle for figures, tapestries, and limited releases. Kinokuniya carries Japanese-language manga, artbooks, and music releases alongside English-language anime. The ramen spots fill up fast. Arriving by 6:30pm avoids the longest waits at Ichiran, Daikokuya, and Shin-Sen-Gumi. The Metro Gold Line stops at Little Tokyo/Arts District station. Street parking is available on surrounding blocks. No ticket or registration required. Monthly on the second Saturday.

Coming Soon

38 days away

Let's KCON Day 2 — Fan Cupsleeve Meetup

Aug 9, 2026 Koreatown, Los Angeles, CA 90005

The second day of KCON LA 2026 brings a different artist lineup, a different crowd energy, and a different set of fans who have been waiting all year for this specific night. This is where Day 2 starts for the people who plan it properly. The Let's KCON Day 2 Fan Cupsleeve Meetup in Koreatown is a fan-organized pre-KCON gathering on August 9, the day of KCON's second night at the LA Convention Center. Community-designed cupsleeves for the Day 2 artist lineup, fan goods, and a space to connect with other K-pop fans before making the trip to the venue together. KCON satellite events in Koreatown have become a reliable part of how the LA K-pop community experiences the festival — the neighborhood that understands the culture hosting the culture before the arena does. HHD in Koreatown is a community gathering space familiar to the Korean-American and K-pop fan community in LA. The Day 2 crowd is distinct from Day 1 — same festival, different fandoms, same sense of shared identity. If you are attending KCON LA 2026 on Day 2 and want to begin the experience in the right neighborhood with the right people, this is the starting point. August 9, 2026 · 1:00 PM–6:00 PM · HHD, Koreatown · Los Angeles, CA · Free admission

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