Dragon Con, Inc., parent company of the internationally known Dragon Con pop culture convention, and MomoCon LLC, parent of the fastest growing all ages fan convention in the country, have formed an unprecedented strategic partnership to share resources, knowledge and experience to ensure that Atlanta continues to have the strongest fan conventions in the country.
Importantly, Dragon Con, Inc. will provide MomoCon with back office and administrative support while the current MomoCon leadership, including founders Chris Stuckey and Jessica Merriman, will continue to organize the convention and serve as its co-chairs. Stuckey and Merriman will also take expanded roles with Dragon Con, Inc. and the Dragon Con convention.
Founded in 2005, MomoCon began as an outgrowth of Georgia Tech’s anime club. Its first convention attracted about 700 people to a free event on the school’s campus. Ten years later, MomoCon attracted some 22,000 total attendees (more than 60,000 at the turnstile) to a four-day convention held in the Georgia World Congress Center.
“In today’s competitive convention landscape, having Dragon Con and its founder Pat Henry on our side is an incredible advantage,” Stuckey said. “This partnership gives Jess and I the ability to pursue our vision for MomoCon while continuing to provide our fans with the high quality event they expect from us year after year.”
“We believe deeply in home-grown, well-run fan conventions that bring real value to the community,” said Henry, who was one of several Dragon Con founders in 1986 and serves as the company’s president today. “I am excited to be working with these two enormously creative entrepreneurs. I believe that their leadership will also help keep Dragon Con on the cutting edge of the convention scene.”
MomoCon 2016, which brings together fans of Japanese anime, American animation, comics and gaming, will be held May 26 through May 29 at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Dragon Con will celebrate its 30th year as the internationally known pop culture, sci fi, fantasy and gaming convention on Labor Day, September 2 through September 5 at five host hotels and the AmericasMart in downtown Atlanta. More than 70,000 people from every state in the union plus a few foreign countries attended Dragon Con in 2015.