{"id":361696,"date":"2026-08-03T16:54:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/361696\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:54:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:54:38","slug":"metrocon-2026-draws-thousands-to-tampa-convention-center-national-and-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/361696\/","title":{"rendered":"MetroCon 2026 draws thousands to Tampa Convention Center | National and World News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here for updates on this story<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0TAMPA, Florida (WFTS<\/a>) — MetroCon 2026, one of the biggest anime conventions in the country, is back in Tampa \u2014 and this year, the event has grown bigger than ever.<\/p>\n

The convention, held at the Tampa Convention Center, draws thousands of cosplay enthusiasts, artists, vendors, and fans from across the region. This year, lines stretched out the door.<\/p>\n

Heidi Craddock, the Director of Exhibits, said the numbers reflect just how much the event has grown.<\/p>\n

“We grew from last year definitely we’re about over, I think believe we should break 18,000,” Craddock said.<\/p>\n

The economic impact of the convention extends well beyond the convention floor. According to the Tampa Convention Center, tickets and hotel rooms alone historically generate around $3 million \u2014 and that does not include what the event brings to vendors.<\/p>\n

Sara Pike and Tiffany Ciper own Epicycle Studios, a business built around drawing art and selling at conventions across the country. But MetroCon holds a special place for them.<\/p>\n

Ciper has been attending since the early days of the convention, which was first hosted in 2003.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been to every single MetroCon, way back when it was in the hotel. I’m pretty sure it was on MLK Street here in town. And I freaking loved it,” Ciper said.<\/p>\n

Pike believes the reason fans and vendors keep coming back \u2014 and why the convention’s popularity continues to grow \u2014 comes down to the community feel inside the exhibit hall.<\/p>\n

“There’s not a lot of people selling like generic corporate-made products. It’s mostly people and collectors; yeah, it’s mostly people who made their own stuff, and you’re getting something unique,” Pike said.<\/p>\n

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WJCL verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.<\/p>\n

\u200bTHE-CNN-WIRE (TM) & \u00a9 2026 CABLE NEWS NETWORK, INC., A TIME WARNER COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Click here for updates on this story \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0TAMPA, Florida (WFTS) — MetroCon 2026, one of the biggest anime…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-361696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}