Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comic con, Comics, emerald city, rose city

The Rose City/Emerald City Team Up

Published Fri, 27 Sep 2013 16:00:21 -0500

Lyssa Pack writes;

It's not a big surprise that everyone is already comparing Rose City in Portland to Emerald City in Seattle. They are both major conventions in Pacific Northwest and have more in common than meets the eye. Emerald City decided to team up with Rose City to help them out which is putting Rose City one step ahead of most conventions. Many speculators are starting to wonder though if this was to draw attention away from Wizard World Portland.

Wizard World Portland is part of the Wizard World traveling show that made an appearance last March in Portland. This was considered to be a bit controversial because of the proximity of the event to Emerald City in Seattle. Wizard World was not even half the size of Emerald City but was still seen as a threat to revenue since of the date of the con and being just a few hours from Seattle.

Emerald City Comicon have been the biggest comic book convention in the Pacific Northwest for the past 10 years. In 2003, the first year of this convention, Emerald City yielded around 2,500 attendees. Just 10 years later the number of attendees went up exponentially. Nearly 65,000 people attended Emerald City in 2013. This convention has expanded so much that in 2014 the show will offer extended hours. Emerald City has developed into a convention that has something to offer for everyone. Between the artists, vendors, panels, displays, cosplay, gaming, and events there is always something fun going on.

Rose City Comic Con has only been around for 2 years now so it is just now drawing some attention to it. The first year for this event was in 2012 and drew nearly 4,100 attendees to its doors. This surpassed expectations and beat Emerald City's first year attendance. Now in year two of this convention the expected attendance of this event is over three times of year one. Many view this convention as one of the most exciting new conventions around in the Pacific Northwest. Rose City has a lot to offer the average con goer but is not as diverse as Emerald City. Although Rose city has a lot of the same aspects compared to Emerald City most of it is underdeveloped. There are a lot less artists, media guests, vendors, and panels compared to Emerald City. Just in space alone Rose City is a great deal smaller than Emerald City. To cut Rose City some slack this is only their 2nd annual event. Many do expect within the next few years Rose City to be as big or bigger than Emerald City due to just the attendance numbers alone. Also with Emerald City's help this convention is on the fast track to becoming just as popular as Emerald City.

Overall it looks as if Emerald City is going to continue their partnership with Rose City and help them shape the path of this convention. Many wonder what this partnership is all about and if there is more going on that meets the eye. Is Emerald City helping Rose City for personal reasons or just to be helpful? Only time will tell, but Rose City is definitely rising up to being the best convention in the Portland area.

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