Dragon Con 2026: 40 Years and Still Going
Dragon Con turned 40 this year, bringing roughly 75,000 people to downtown Atlanta over Labor Day weekend. For five days, the convention once again took over the Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, Westin, Courtland Grand and AmericasMart, along with the streets, restaurants, bars and everything else around them.
There were panels, celebrity guests, comics, art, gaming, cosplay, shopping and enough programming to make it impossible to see more than a fraction of what was happening. That has always been part of the Dragon Con experience. You don't really "do" Dragon Con. You pick a few things you want to see and accept that you're going to miss a lot of other things.
The 40th anniversary guest list included Sean Astin, Richard Dean Anderson, Aaron and Shawn Ashmore, Timothy Zahn and artist Tony DiTerlizzi, along with hundreds of authors, artists, performers and other creators.
The Vendor Hall and Comic and Pop Artist Alley were packed throughout the weekend. The Art Show remained one of the better places to see what the creative side of the convention is producing, while the shopping areas offered the usual combination of comics, toys, collectibles, clothing, artwork and things you probably didn't know you needed until you saw them.
Getting into all of this could take some patience. The check-in lines were long, particularly at busy times, and the Vendor Hall had its own crowds and lines. This isn't exactly new for Dragon Con, but with tens of thousands of people arriving at the same time, there is only so much space to work with.
Music continues to be an important part of the weekend. Dragon Con has never treated music as something separate from the convention, and 2026 included performances from bands including The Crüxshadows, Galactic Empire, The Cybertronic Spree and Psychostick, along with DJs, dance parties and other performances.
For those of us coming from the Goth and alternative side of things, there was plenty to pay attention to this year.
Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy made his first ever appearance at Dragon Con, which was a particularly notable addition to the programming. The Crüxshadows returned, and Dusty Gannon and the Agonal Gasps (formerly Vision Video) were on the musical lineup. There were DJs, panels and other programming throughout the weekend that reliably gives the Goth and industrial crowd a place within the much larger Dragon Con universe.
Cosplay is one of the first things most people notice at Dragon Con. There are costumes that have been bought, costumes that have been modified, and costumes that have been built from the ground up. Some involve sewing, leatherwork, foam, 3D printing, electronics, makeup, wigs, sculpting and fabrication. Others are assembled from whatever the creator could find. Some of the best costumes are simply walking through the hotel.
Then there is the parade. The Dragon Con Parade once again took over Peachtree Street, with thousands of costumed participants and spectators filling the route. It is one of those events that makes it obvious that Dragon Con is not simply something happening inside a convention center. The entire city becomes part of it.
And then there are the traditions that have nothing to do with the official programming.
Dragon Con has developed its own mythology over four decades. There are the various "cults" of Dragon Con, including the famous Marriott carpet and FedEx John. There are dancing dinosaurs, badge ribbons, strange costumes, recurring jokes and traditions that can be difficult to explain to someone who has never been there.
Dragon Con even officially acknowledges this culture with its Cults of Dragon Con programming and costume contest.
These things can seem ridiculous from the outside. Once you've been around Dragon Con long enough, they become part of the experience.
Small, sticky-backed strips of fabric have become one of the strangest and most entertaining parts of Dragon Con. Some promote a panel, group, business or charity. Others are inside jokes, references to fandoms, bits of nonsense or messages that make absolutely no sense unless you understand the joke.
The ribbons are traded, collected and given away throughout the weekend. There are people who arrive with ribbons specifically to hand out, and others who spend the entire convention looking for new ones.
Dragon Con has its own Loyal Order of the Ribbon, and the collection can become a competition. By Sunday, some attendees have so many ribbons attached that they hang below the badge in long chains known as "badge beards." Dragon Con even has an annual Badge Beard competition and ribbon events.
For all the noise and silliness of Dragon Con, there are also quieter parts of the weekend.
There are places where attendees leave flowers, notes, photographs and other personal tributes to people from the community who have passed away. These informal memorials can be easy to miss while moving between hotels, but they are an important reminder that Dragon Con is also a community with a long history.
That's really the thing about Dragon Con at 40. It has become something bigger than the convention. The hotels are important. The panels are important. The guests, bands, artists and vendors are important. But the people are what hold the whole thing together.
Dragon Con is one of those rare events where the social gathering can sometimes feel more important than the actual schedule. You spend as much time walking through hotel lobbies, sitting in bars, running into old friends and meeting new people as you do sitting in a panel room.
There are people who have been going for decades. There are people who met their friends there. There are people who met their partners there. There are people who spend the entire year making costumes, art, music and plans for the next Dragon Con.
I imagine if the con disappeared tomorrow, people would probably still come to Atlanta on Labor Day weekend, meet at the Marriott, wear costumes, and have some drinks.
Forty years in, Dragon Con is no longer just a science fiction and fantasy convention. It is its own culture, with its own traditions, celebrities, music, art, language and history.
The badges come off Monday, but Dragon Con never really ends.
Til next year friends!
Photos by Max Michaels
