Animate! Raleigh draws to a close
Animate! Raleigh closed up shop at 8 p.m. on Sunday. The convention was created by GalaxyCon organizers, and was a draw for fans across the east coast.
Posted — UpdatedAnimate! Raleigh wrapped up its three-day convention Sunday night.
"We used to do Animate! in south Florida years ago when we had been doing SuperCon down there," Broder said. "When we did that, we retired the anime brand for a while. We retired it until we were going to bring it back. It's a good complimentary show to GalaxyCon."
Fans showed up as familiar characters and new ones in the animation scene. Broder estimated about 12,000 fans came through the convention center over the weekend. Broder believes the convention will generate nearly $2 million for the city.
The convention brought in fans from all across the east coast. Voice actress Jad Saxton said one person flew from Connecticut to attend the convention.
“We came from Richmond to meet a lot of voice actors that are here,” Alyson Smith said. “We have a lot of our favorite actors who are voice actors here.”
Voice actors ranging from anime to Disney to video gaming set up inside the exhibition hall, ready to talk to fans, take selfies and sign autographs.
While not as big in attendance as GalaxyCon, voice actor Dana Snyder said the con catered to a specific fandom in nerd culture.
"If GalaxyCon is like the big Hilton, Animate! is like the boutique hotel," he said.
Those who showed up said being at the convention center felt like a reunion.
Those who showed up say being in this space is like a reunion, with one person they enjoyed both trips due to Raleigh’s hospitality.
“I love the community,” Carmella Acosta, a convention visitor, said. “The people here are so supportive. I love meeting people who are just as nerdy as me about these types of topics. It brings tons of joy [and] it’s nice to see.”
The fans’ hospitality helped bring back familiar guests to the conventions and new faces.
Voice actor Alexis Tipton said the fans are the best part of the conventions.
“It’s so nice to come to conventions and interact with people and how excited they are to meet them,” Tipton said. “It’s humbling. It’s easy to forget how much these shows mean to people, and that’s cool.”
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