San Diego Comic-Con Announces In-Person Event for Thanksgiving Weekend

San Diego Comic-Con Cosplay Star Wars
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Pre-pandemic, you may have spent your Black Friday in crowds. Well, you may be doing so again in 2021 — for San Diego Comic-Con Special Edition.

The three-day, in-person event will be held at the San Diego Convention Center over Thanksgiving weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, November 26-28, San Diego Comic Convention has announced. This second celebration of pop culture in 2021 was announced when it was determined that the July annual event will again be virtual this year (and three days, July 23-25, rather than the usual four).

“It is our hope that by Fall conditions will permit larger public gatherings,” according to the announcement. “The Fall event will allow the organization to highlight all the great elements that make Comic-Con such a popular event each year, as well as generate much needed revenue not only for the organization but also for local businesses and the community.”

This Special Edition is set to be the first in-person convention for the organization since Comic-Con 2019 (the 2020 edition went virtual like other events due to the pandemic), and the announcement for it come as vaccines are becoming available to more people.

“While we have been able to pivot from in-person gatherings to limited online events, the loss of revenue has had an acute impact on the organization as it has with many small businesses, necessitating reduced work schedules and reduction in pay for employees, among other issues,” David Glanzer, spokesperson for the nonprofit organization, said. “Hopefully this event will shore up our financial reserves and mark a slow return to larger in-person gatherings in 2022.”

This comes after financial reasons were given for cutting a day from the July (virtual) event. “Unfortunately, the challenges of this past year and the multiple postponements of our two largest events have left us with limited financial resources,” San Diego Comic Convention said in March.

Details of Comic-Con Special Edition are still being finalized, so there’s no word yet on information like badge cost and attendance capacity.