{"id":362610,"date":"2026-08-04T16:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/362610\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T16:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:32:07","slug":"anime-enthusiasts-gather-in-tampa-for-growing-metrocon-wsvn-7news-miami-news-weather-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/362610\/","title":{"rendered":"Anime enthusiasts gather in Tampa for growing Metrocon &#8211; WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TAMPA, FLA. (WSVN) &#8211; Thousands of anime enthusiasts descended on Tampa over the weekend for the 2026 Metrocon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cosplay, gaming and art took over the Tampa Bay Convention Center.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Organizers said the size of this event this year took off since the event\u2019s inception in 2003.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe grew from last year. Definitely we\u2019re about over, I think, believe we should break 18,000,\u201d said Heidi Craddock with Metrocon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve been to every single Metrocon, way back when it was in the hotel,\u201d said artist Tiffany Ciper. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Organizers said the convention generated around $3 million from tickets and hotel stays alone, while also providing local artists with a chance to showcase their work to thousands of fans.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p>\tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, FLA. (WSVN) &#8211; Thousands of anime enthusiasts descended on Tampa over the weekend for the 2026 Metrocon.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-362610","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\/362610","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=362610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}