By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

In January I attended Anime Town Greenville for the third year in a row and I believe that this was also their third year hosting in the Greenville Convention Center. I can honestly say that there was a lot of improvement between this year’s convention and the two prior. However, unfortunately, circumstances outside anyone’s control ended up defining much of the weekend.

Severe snow weather rolled in and disrupted travel plans almost immediately at the convention’s start. Roads became difficult or unsafe, and many attendees made the understandable decision to leave early or not attend at all on Day 1, a Friday. By the second half of the convention on Saturday, foot traffic had dropped sharply. While safety always comes first, the sudden decrease in attendance had consequences, especially for vendors, in addition to the convention hosts.

Several vendors I spoke with were hit hard financially. With fewer attendees browsing the floor, sales slowed to a trickle, and most vendors—from those I spoke with—likely didn’t come close to breaking even. For small businesses and independent creators, conventions are a major investment of time and money, and the weather made that gamble especially painful this year. Yet, despite all the bad, I felt that this was the best convention set-up for this location thus far.

The isles were well organized, with plenty of space for mobility. Another noticeable upgrade was the panel setup. Panels finally had their own dedicated rooms instead of sharing audio space with a nearby stage, and the difference was huge. Conversations were easier to follow, presenters weren’t competing with background noise, and the layout made sense as it was not competing with a rival wedding convention that usually happens around the same time and in the same space. This change alone showed that the organizers were trying to improve the experience. Sadly, not a lot of panelists seemed to apply, so much of the panel rooms were taken up by meet-ups and voice acting panels. In fact, I also did not apply and neither did the person I recommended last year. However, we plan to correct that next time with the hope that they return in 2027.

In the end, this convention felt like a mix of genuine progress and unfortunate setbacks.

The organizational improvements, particularly with panels, deserve recognition and should absolutely continue next year. The food had a noticeable improvement as well. I sampled several delicious soft pretzels and saw several attendees hanging out and enjoying the food. I had the opportunity to meet a few people who flew in as well and enjoyed hearing about their positive experiences with the hotel and getting merch. I agree about the merch, as I was finally able to get my hands on a Croconaw (a Pokémon plushie which has taken me awhile to get!). While I generally heard from the many attendees who had visited years prior that they too felt like this was the best one, they were also disappointed that there wasn’t more people.

Cosplay backdrops were available and looked really good, and the snow—for at least a little while—added a bit of magic as a natural background for epic images…

At the same time, the snowstorm exposed how vulnerable events like this are to factors beyond anyone’s control. As well as how quickly those factors can impact attendees, vendors, and overall morale. My car slid on the snow once coming in on Saturday and we packed up to leave by 2 PM, resulting in sliding twice on the way home and were unable to make it out of our cul-de-sac on Sunday. From what we heard from our friends who made it in, the convention was practically dead. a fair amount of vendors had packed up and early to avoid further bad weather and begin the way home, which was true for us Saturday.

With better luck on weather and continued attention to feedback, this convention has the potential to build on what worked this year and deliver an even stronger experience in the future. I just hope it will return next year.

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Author Note: Sorry for the delay on this! We’re running a bit behind on the backend right now. Fingers crossed we can catch up soon!

Line edits by: Krow Smith | @coffeewithkrow