Kumoricon

Kumoricon
Kumoricon 2016
StatusActive
GenreAnime, Manga, Japanese culture[1][2]
VenueOregon Convention Center
Location(s)Portland, Oregon
CountryUnited States
Inaugurated2003
Attendance11,729 in 2023[3]
Websitehttp://www.kumoricon.org/

Kumoricon is an annual three-day anime convention held during October or November at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. The name of the convention comes from the Japanese word Kumori (曇り), meaning cloudy.[4][5] Kumoricon is run by a volunteer staff and was previously held in Vancouver, Washington at the Hilton Vancouver Washington/Red Lion Vancouver at the Quay.[6]

Programming

The convention typically offers board gaming, cosplay chess, cosplay competitions, dances (formal masquerade ball and informal), karaoke, music, music video contests, panels, tabletop gaming, video game tournaments, and workshops.[5][7][8][9][10]

History

The convention originated from the anime club at the University of Oregon.[1] Due to the convention's growth, in 2011 it was held in both the Hilton Vancouver Washington and the Red Lion Vancouver at the Quay.[1][9] Kumoricon expanded to four days in 2014.[6] Due to growth and lack of space, Kumoricon in 2016 moved to the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon.[2][11] Demolition of Red Lion's Centennial Center and Kumoricon using six hotels also influenced the decision. Kumoricon used half the convention center in 2019.[12] Kumoricon 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they announced an online convention in its place.[13][14][15]

Event history

Dates Location Atten. Guests
November 29–30, 2003 Clarion Hotel
Springfield, Oregon		419Bakazoku[16]
September 4–6, 2004 Portland Marriott Downtown
Portland, Oregon		1,284Bakazoku, Phuong-Mai Bui-Quang (PMBQ), Brad DeMoss, Jeannie Lee, and Dr. Antonia Levi.[17]
September 3–5, 2005 Doubletree Hotel Portland/Lloyd Center
Portland, Oregon		1,850Bakazoku, Greg Dean, Brad DeMoss, Antonia Levi, Joshua Seth, and Toshifumi Yoshida.[18]
September 2–4, 2006 Red Lion on the River
Portland, Oregon		2,357A-Key Kyo, Bakazoku, Greg Dean, Liz Dean, Michael Gluck, Tiffany Grant, and Kirk Thornton.[19]
September 1–3, 2007 Vancouver Hilton & Convention Center
Vancouver, Washington		3,133A-Key Kyo, Mohammad "Hawk" Haque, Ananth Panagariya, Sean Schemmel, The Slants, and Kirk Thornton.[20]
August 30 – September 1, 2008 Doubletree Portland-Lloyd Center
Portland, Oregon		4,610Greg Dean, Liz Dean, Richard Epcar, Kaja Foglio, Phil Foglio, Carl Gustav Horn, The Slants, Ellyn Stern, Kirk Thornton, and Tommy Yune.[21]
September 5–7, 2009 Hilton Portland & Executive Tower
Portland, Oregon		4,761The Anime Hunters, Svetlana Chmakova, Kaja Foglio, Phil Foglio, Carl Gustav Horn, Last Stop Tokyo, Cynthia Martinez, Soul Candy, Jason Thompson, Kirk Thornton, and Toshifumi Yoshida.[22]
September 4–6, 2010 Hilton Portland & Executive Tower
Portland, Oregon		4,271Tiffany Grant, Todd Haberkorn, Carl Gustav Horn, Kevin McKeever, Soul Candy, and Sonny Strait.[23]
September 3–5, 2011 Hilton Vancouver Washington
Red Lion Vancouver at the Quay
Vancouver, Washington		4,182The Anime Hunters, Chris Cason, Todd Haberkorn, Slightly Anime, and David Vincent.[24]
September 1–3, 2012 Hilton Vancouver Washington
Red Lion Vancouver at the Quay
Vancouver, Washington		5,023Lauren Landa, Ninja of the Night, The Slants, and Sonny Strait.[25][26]
August 31–September 2, 2013 Hilton Vancouver Washington
Red Lion Vancouver at the Quay
Vancouver, Washington		6,206Anina Bennett, Terry Blas, Ron Chan, Paul Guinan, Todd Haberkorn, Cassandra Lee Morris, Ninja of the Night, Christopher Sabat, Jason Thompson, and David Vincent.[27]
August 29–September 1, 2014 Hilton Vancouver Washington
Red Lion Vancouver at the Quay
Vancouver, Washington		6,650Chuck Huber, Bryce Papenbrook, Raj Ramayya, Christopher Sabat, Patrick Seitz, Stephanie Sheh, and Karen Strassman.[28]
September 4–7, 2015 Hilton Vancouver Washington
Red Lion Vancouver at the Quay
Vancouver, Washington		6,600Christine Marie Cabanos, Erica Mendez, Patrick Seitz, The Slants, Ciarán Strange, and David Vincent.[29]
October 28–30, 2016[11] Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon		7,954D.C. Douglas, Caitlin Glass, Shigeto Koyama, Neeko, Sonny Strait, Ciarán Strange, Austin Tindle, Eric Vale, and Hiromi Wakabayashi.[30]
October 27–29, 2017 Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon		8,575Steve Ahn, Fighting Dreamers Productions, Jessie James Grelle, Todd Haberkorn, Jerry Jewell, Hiroyasu Kobayashi, Shigeto Koyama, Kra, Eugene Lee, Cherami Leigh, Vic Mignogna, TeddyLoid, Hiromi Wakabayashi, and Lisle Wilkerson.[31]
October 26–28, 2018 Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon		9,086Yoshitaka Amano, Justin Briner, Clifford Chapin, Jillian Coglan, Samurai Dan Coglan, Lucien Dodge, KionCloud, Hiroyasu Kobayashi, Shigeto Koyama, Lauren Landa, Magic of Life, Erica Mendez, Atelier Pierrot, Monica Rial, Jad Saxton, Keith Silverstein, Ciarán Strange, superlog, J. Michael Tatum, TeddyLoid, Kimura U, Uptown Cosplay, Hiromi Wakabayashi, and David Wald.[32]
November 15–17, 2019 Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon		10,816Yuko Ashizawa, Tia Ballard, Morgan Berry, Luci Christian, Enayla, Caleb Hyles, IBI, Brittney Karbowski, KionCloud, Shigeto Koyama, Matthew Lassiter, Joel McDonald, Brina Palencia, Atelier Pierrot, Ciarán Strange, Karen Strassman, TeddyLoid, Uptown Cosplay, Vedetta Marie, Hiromi Wakabayashi, and David Wald.[33]
November 6-8, 2020[15] Online convention
November 5–7, 2021 Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon		8,923ACME, Morgan Berry, Kira Buckland, Robbie Daymond, Alisa Freedman, Caleb Hyles, Billy Kametz, James Landino, Faye Mata, Erica Mendez, Momma Sammu, Laura Stahl, Ciarán Strange, TeddyLoid, and Abby Trott.[34]
November 11-13, 2022 Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon		11,199DJ Amaya, Burnout Syndromes, Ray Chase, Zack Davisson, Robbie Daymond, Alisa Freedman, Caleb Hyles, DJ Kagamine, Shigeto Koyama, Cherami Leigh, Adam McArthur, Amanda C. Miller, Max Mittelman, Momma Sammu, Bryce Papenbrook, Kaiji Tang, TeddyLoid, Cristina Vee, Hiromi Wakabayashi, December Wynn, and Anne Yatco.[35]
November 17-19, 2023 Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon		11,7296%Dokidoki, ACME, Black Bettie, Griffin Burns, Dani Chambers, Crusher-P, Alisa Freedman, Caleb Hyles, Brittney Karbowski, Haruka Kurebayashi, Lauren Landa, E. Jason Liebrecht, Michelle Marie, Amber May, Brandon McInnis, Patrick Pedraza, Alejandro Saab, Rock M. Sakura, Keith Silverstein, Karen Strassman, J. Michael Tatum, Teca, Jeannie Tirado, Kana Ueda, Howard Wang, and Jonathan Young.[3]
November 8-10, 2024 Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon		Britt Baron, Johnny Yong Bosch, Allegra Clark, Crusher, David Matranga, Xander Mobus, Nano, OR3O, Zeno Robinson, Michelle Ruff, Scottaconda, Stephanie Sheh, and Briana White.[36]

References

  1. ^ a b c Vorenberg, Sue (2011-09-02). "World of cartoons alive at Kumoricon". The Columbian. Archived from the original on 2015-09-25.
  2. ^ a b Sargent, Donovan (November 3, 2016). "Exploring the niche of Japanese culture". The Advocate. Retrieved 20 December 2016.[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ a b "Kumoricon 2023 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
  4. ^ Williams, Lee (2007-08-31). "Adventure Weekend! Events". Portland Tribune.
  5. ^ a b Middlewood, Erin (2014-08-30). "Cosplay is serious fun - Kumoricon festival attracts colorful, devoted fans of anime, costumes". The Columbian. Archived from the original on 2014-09-08. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  6. ^ a b Vorenberg, Sue (2014-08-29). "Kumoricon draws thousands of animated fans". The Columbian. Archived from the original on 2014-09-08. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  7. ^ Distefano, Anne Marie (2006-09-08). "Invasion of anime geeks turns hotel into Fantasy Central". Portland Tribune.
  8. ^ Kern, Dave (2011-09-04). "Anime convention fans dress up, show character". The Columbian. Archived from the original on 2015-06-25.
  9. ^ a b Vorenberg, Sue (2013-08-30). "Come out and cosplay at Kumoricon". The Columbian. Archived from the original on 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
  10. ^ Hewitt, Scott (September 4, 2015). "Kumoricon launches friendly invasion". The Columbian. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  11. ^ a b Matarrese, Andy; Fischer, Amy (September 4, 2015). "Kumoricon leaving Vancouver". The Columbian. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  12. ^ Harlan, Kohr (15 November 2019). "Kumoricon takes over convention center". KOIN. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  13. ^ Hazra, Adriana (July 19, 2020). "Kumoricon Event in Portland Postponed to November 2021". Anime News Network. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  14. ^ Hazra, Adriana (July 26, 2020). "Kumoricon to Hold Digital Event 'DigiKumo' on November 6–8". Anime News Network. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  15. ^ a b "Kumoricon 2020 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  16. ^ "Kumoricon 2003 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  17. ^ "Kumoricon 2004 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  18. ^ "Kumoricon 2005 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  19. ^ "Kumoricon 2006 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  20. ^ "Kumoricon 2007 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  21. ^ "Kumoricon 2008 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  22. ^ "Kumoricon 2009 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
  23. ^ "Kumoricon 2010 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  24. ^ "Kumoricon 2011 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  25. ^ "Kumoricon 2012 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
  26. ^ "KumoriCon Returns To Vancouver USA Over Labor Day Weekend". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
  27. ^ "Kumoricon 2013 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  28. ^ "Kumoricon 2014 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  29. ^ "Kumoricon 2015 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  30. ^ "Kumoricon 2016 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  31. ^ "Kumoricon 2017 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  32. ^ "Kumoricon 2018 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  33. ^ "Kumoricon 2019 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  34. ^ "Kumoricon 2021 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  35. ^ "Kumoricon 2022 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  36. ^ "Kumoricon 2024 Information". AnimeCons.com. Retrieved 2024-11-07.

45°31′41″N 122°39′47″W / 45.52806°N 122.66306°W / 45.52806; -122.66306