Sports events, art galleries, and museum exhibitions are all some examples of hobbyist activities in Philadelphia. Some are more popular than others, but all of them draw their respective audience into Philadelphia. The thing is though one specific type of hobbyist event is slowly leaving the city, a type of event that mostly appeals to those involved in gaming or comic-related hobbies but is still of the utmost importance to the city. Philadelphia is beginning to lose its smaller conventions, and that is not a good thing. Conventions have a long history in Philly, give people unique personal experiences, and benefit Philadelphia’s local community.

While modern-day conventions are often so big that multimillion-dollar companies are the only ones capable of operating them, conventions started very small. The oldest dated convention we know of was hosted in Philadelphia in 1936 and only had 9 people attending. It was supposedly hosted in Milton A. Rothman’s, one of the founders of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society (PSFS), home. David Kyle, a popular fanzine writer, has given an account of his experience there in the Fanzine Mimosa. According to David Kyle, this convention is what inspired him to participate in the science fiction community more than he was before. Especially because the writer Hugo Gernsback had left science fiction behind him, and the major magazine Wonder Stories ended. However, thanks to the convention Kyle was still as invested as ever in the community due to how it invigorated his love of science fiction and grew his closer to his friends. This path eventually leads him to become one of the main writers of Mimosa. This recounting of the first science fiction convention not only shows how important conventions are to their communities but to Philadelphia as to this day Philcon, the name the PSFS gave the convention, still occurs to this day. Just like it did for David Kyle to this day Philcon and other conventions like it keep people interested in the hobbies associated with the convention and bring people together to deepen or gain friendships.

(Image of David Kyle and the other attendees. David is at the far right.)

Corporations, while they can host the biggest and largest conventions, the damage they are doing to the convention scene in Philadelphia may not be worth the money these large conventions bring in. While PAX hosts a very specific board game and tabletop game-centered convention in Philadelphia, PAX Unplugged, Fan Expo’s buyout of the Philly Comic Con shows that corporate entities have so much more power in what and where events will be held. Smaller conventions like J1 have moved out of the 2300 Arena and have since moved to Atlantic City, and J1 isn’t the only one. Big E Gaming, a smaller local video game tournament organizer used to host most of its events in Philadelphia but has since moved to Cherry Hill New Jersey. Most importantly though, the historic Philcon has also since moved to Cherry Hill. The oldest science fiction convention in not only Philadelphia history but U.S. history has moved out of the city that it started in back in the thirties. More and more smaller conventions have left the city and as time goes on, we may lose more. While the reason for the moves may not solely be due to the cost of hosting events in Philly, that very clearly is playing a part as some of the only remaining conventions in the city are Fan Expo and PAX.

As smaller conventions leave, they very rarely reveal why they left the city. Is the cost higher because of venues knowing corporations can pay the fees? Or is it due to the profit already small companies and event organizers are making is now even less due to the venue fees and associated costs? No matter what the answers are, the fact that large companies have become the only choice is a problem, especially when it has cost us the cozy feel of smaller local cons.  

Despite this, the city does have hope, some smaller conventions like The East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC for short) are still running to this day. ECBACC is a non-profit organization that runs four conventions in the city: Africoz, a cosplay convention, Comics, and Culture Fest, a mini comic event, and the main ECBACC comic convention. The events are meant to promote African-American comics, cosplayers, and culture in an environment that is sorely lacking. The convention is 20 years old and still runs today. The main event is hosted at Temple with the other side events utilizing venues like Letitia House Park and The African American Museum of Philadelphia. The event was founded by Yumy Odom, but he has since established a team of organizers that make the ECBACC an amazing community event for any African American in Philly who has a love of comics. The event even has established a series of workshops to help encourage a love of reading and science to help children in the area develop a love of STEM and the arts.

ECBACC is an amazing example of what a hobbyist convention should be a place of community and a benefit for the whole community. Conventions are valuable to Philadelphia because of how they impact people, their history in the city, and the ways the city can benefit from them. Despite this, with so many smaller cons leaving the city the day may come when all that’s left are massive corporate-run conventions, and while these can be fun, they can reduce the feeling of being part of a community that makes conventions fun to go to. So, the next time you hear about a small convention in Philly pop-up, go give it a try it not only benefits the city but it can give you an experience like no other.