Thaindian News

ATLANTA (BNO NEWS) – Dragon*Con, a convention in Atlanta, Georgia attended by well over 50,000 people last week, made waves after setting a world record and shut down one of Atlanta’s busiest streets for a massive parade.

Entering the Guinness World Records for the second time, the convention broke the current world record for the largest gathering of people in Star Trek costumes with a whopping 571 costumed people, beating the previous record of 543. Dragon*Con previously set the world record for the most people participating in Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance, with some 903 people dancing.

The annual Dragon*Con Parade took place on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, one of the city’s most active streets. Storm Troopers, Klingons, and Browncoats could be seen marching down the street. Over 1400 costumed people marched in 2009, with even more marching this year.

The convention, which has been an annual event in the city since 1987, has become one of the country’s largest and most respected multi-genre conventions on the U.S. East Coast. The convention, which was held on September 3 – 6, is notable part of Atlanta’s tourism industry. Over 48 million visitors annually spend well over $25 billion in the city, according to statistics from Georgia State University. The convention brought a direct economic impact in 2008 of some $25 million to the city.

DragonCon is geared towards the science-fiction market, but is genre-wide. Thousands of hours of panels, demonstrations, and workshops are spread over the convention’s five host hotels situated in the downtown Atlanta area. In addition for contributing to the Atlanta economy, it also is responsible for raising thousands of dollars each year for a number of different charities. The convention hosted LifeSouth, a community blood center with centers in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. “We love being here, DragonCon brings us out here every year and we’re always doing good work,” a LifeSouth official said. “The response has been phenomenal.”

With over 400 featured guests and bands performing at the convention, the event has some of the most loyal attendees, with many booking their hotels a year in advance of each Dragon*Con. “DragonCon is awesome, the con [sic] is a ton of fun and I can’t wait to come back next year,” a con-goer dressed as a member of the Ghostbusters said. A number of the guests indicated that DragonCon was one of their destinations of choice, not only for the amount of people going, but because of the huge appreciation by the attendees, the staff, and by the city for the convention and its guests.

Next year’s Dragon*Con will be held September 2 – 5. It’s expected to bring an even bigger number of attendees next year, with no sign of guests or attendees giving up on this very much alive and growing 23-year-old convention.