Kumoricon » History

November 15-17, 2019
at the Oregon Convention Center

History

Kumoricon began in 2003 in Springfield, Oregon for two days on Thanksgiving weekend. From 2004 to 2015, it was located in the Portland, Oregon metro area and held all three days (and in some years four days) of Labor Day weekend. In 2016, it moved to the Oregon Convention Center and takes place around Halloween time. Kumoricon is the largest anime convention in the Portland metro area and in Oregon. Kumoricon's staff are all volunteers.

Attendance counting method:

Paid regular attendees

Year	Dates	Attendance	Staff	Location
2003	Nov 29-30	400*	22	Springfield, OR – Clarion Hotel
2004	Sep 4-6	1250*	34	Portland, OR – Portland Marriott Downtown
2005	Sep 3-5	1750*	40	Portland, OR – DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Portland
2006	Sep 2-4	2257	70	Portland, OR – Red Lion on the River
2007	Sep 1-3	3003	130	Vancouver, WA – Hilton Vancouver Washington
2008	Aug 30-Sep 1	4470	140	Portland, OR – DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Portland
2009	Sep 5-7	4558	203	Portland, OR – Hilton Portland and Executive Tower
2010	Sep 4-6	4055	216	Portland, OR – Hilton Portland and Executive Tower
2011	Sep 3-5	3956	226	Vancouver, WA – Hilton Vancouver Washington / Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay
2012	Sep 1-3	4574	311	Vancouver, WA – Hilton Vancouver Washington / Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay
2013	Aug 31-Sep 2	5836	360	Vancouver, WA – Hilton Vancouver Washington / Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay
2014	Aug 29-Sep 1	6361	437	Vancouver, WA – Hilton Vancouver Washington / Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay
2015	Sep 4-7	5949	497	Vancouver, WA – Hilton Vancouver Washington / Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay
2016	Oct 28-30	6880	517	Portland, OR – Oregon Convention Center
2017	Oct 27-29	7263	561	Portland, OR – Oregon Convention Center
2018	Oct 26-28	7924	580	Portland, OR – Oregon Convention Center
2019	Nov 15-17			Portland, OR – Oregon Convention Center

*Estimated figure

More information about how we report attendance

Click to show

For increased transparency, we report attendance in three ways:

(1) Paid regular attendees

This method counts paid regular attendees, and also VIP members.

All paid attendees are counted, whether or not the person picked up their badge.

(2) Total paid members

This method counts all paid regular attendees (method #1 above), and also adds exhibitors and artists, who pay for their spot in the Exhibits Hall, Artist Alley, or Small Press.

(3) Total badgeholders (a.k.a. "warm body count")

This method counts all of the above, and all other badge types, including staff (all staff are volunteers), panelists, guests of honor, industry, and press.

However, this differs from methods #1 and #2, in that for all membership types, it only includes people who actually picked up their badges.

Did Kumoricon change how it reports attendance?

For most of Kumoricon's history, we only reported numbers using method #1 (paid regular attendees). To provide additional information, we updated our website in August 2018 to report numbers using all three methods. At this time, we did not change our policy for how we count paid regular attendees.

When we started reporting using these additional counting methods, we were able to recompute exact numbers for the previous two convention years (back to 2016) based on our membership database. Numbers for years prior to 2016 are estimates based on information in our publication materials. Estimates are rounded to the nearest 50 and marked with the * symbol.

Based on recomputation from our membership database, some of the "paid regular attendees" numbers from 2012 to 2016 varied slightly due to greater precision in our record-keeping and counting programming—however, our policy for this counting method did not change. You can compare our most up-to-date, accurate numbers reported above with previous numbers we reported using our website archive's snapshot of the 2017 page.

Are these numbers "turnstile" numbers?

No. For all three counting methods we report, we count unique individuals. This means that each person is counted no more than once, even if they attended more than one day (or all days) of the convention.

Some types of conferences or events report "turnstile" attendance numbers, which means that if a person buys a full-event badge for a three-day conference, they count three times in the attendance figures. Kumoricon, like almost all other anime conventions, does not report using "turnstile" numbers in its primary attendance reports.

(Prior to 2012, there is a rare exception to this, which we believe has only a negligible impact on the reported numbers: In the rare case that a person buys two separate single-day badges, they may have been double-counted, due to not being tracked under the same badge. Almost all of our attendees who attend for more than one day buy a weekend membership, in which this double-counting does not occur. Our newer software avoids duplicate counting for years 2012 and later because it identifies repeat single-day badge purchases as the same person.)

Staff are listed in a separate column. Does this mean that staff are not counted in the attendance number?

Staff are not counted in the attendance number for the "paid regular attendees" or "total paid members" counting methods. Staff are only counted in the "total badgeholders" counting method (a.k.a. "warm body count").

Mini-Events

Kumoricon has produced several one-day mini-events, including dances and "mini-cons".

This list only includes events which were hosted or co-hosted by Kumoricon. It does not include events hosted only by other organizations at which Kumoricon provided activities or content.

Date	Title	Description	Location
Aug 11, 2007	Mini-con	Miniature version of Kumoricon	Hilton Vancouver Washington
Feb 2, 2008	Winter Formal Masquerade Ball	Formal masquerade ball	Milwaukie Community Club
May 10, 2008	Kumoricon Lite	Miniature version of Kumoricon	Portland State University
July 19, 2008	Summer Swing Dance	Informal swing dance	Norse Hall
Nov 1, 2008	Kumoricon Lite	Miniature version of Kumoricon	Portland State University
Feb 7, 2009	(Please Don’t Let It) Snow Ball	Anime-themed dance	Milwaukie Community Club
July 18, 2009	Dance Dance Kumoricon	Gaming-themed dance	Norse Hall
Apr 24, 2010	Kumori-Cat Ball	Cosplay-themed dance	Multnomah Arts Center
Oct 30, 2010	GameDay/MiniCon	Miniature version of Kumoricon	Hilton Vancouver Washington
June 27, 2015	Kumoricon Lite	Miniature version of Kumoricon	DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Portland
August 21, 2016	Kumoricon Lite	Miniature version of Kumoricon	Ambridge Event Center
July 28, 2018	Kumoricon Lite	Miniature version of Kumoricon	DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Portland

Website History

Kumoricon 2006
- As archived, with 2007 teaser banner
- With 2006 banner displayed during the convention
Kumoricon 2007
Kumoricon 2008
- Winter Masquerade Ball – Formal masquerade ball as a stand-alone event on February 2, 2008
- Summer Swing Dance – Swing dance as a stand-alone event on July 19, 2008
Kumoricon 2009
- (Please Don't Let It) Snow Ball – Anime-themed dance as a stand-alone event on February 7, 2009
- Dance Dance Kumoricon – Gaming-themed dance as a stand-alone event on July 18, 2009
Kumoricon 2010
- Kumori-Cat Ball – Cosplay-themed dance as a stand-alone event on April 24, 2010
Kumoricon 2011
Kumoricon 2012
Kumoricon 2013
Kumoricon 2014
Kumoricon 2015
- Kumoricon Lite – Miniature version of Kumoricon as a stand-alone event on June 27, 2015
Kumoricon 2016
- Kumoricon Lite – Miniature version of Kumoricon as a stand-alone event on August 21, 2016
Kumoricon 2017
Kumoricon 2018 (website archive coming soon)
- Kumoricon Lite – Miniature version of Kumoricon as a stand-alone event on July 28, 2018 (website archive coming soon)

Publications History

Mascot and cover contest galleries

Program book and pocket guide downloads

Newsletters

Merchandise History

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