DRAGON CON CELEBRATES 40 YEARS OF POP CULTURE REVELRY
Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 8/18/26
More Than 75,000 Fans Will Party on Peachtree for Five Days of Celebrity Guests, Eye-Popping Cosplay, Acres of Gaming, and Gloriously Geeky Awesomeness That Only Happens at Dragon Con
More than 75,000 pop culture fans are expected to pack downtown Atlanta over the five-day Labor Day weekend as Dragon Con, the internationally known pop culture, science fiction, fantasy, and gaming convention, celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Fans come from all 50 states and several foreign countries to meet their favorite actors, artists, authors, creators, and experts, show off their latest cosplay, make new friends, and revel in the awesomeness that is Dragon Con.
Dragon Con runs from Thursday, Sept. 3 through Monday, Sept. 7 with events and activities across five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree, and Courtland Grand – plus AmericasMart Buildings Two and Three.
Guests – Oscar-nominated actor Edward James Olmos will lead a Battlestar Galactica cast reunion while Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk, stars of the fan favorite Firefly television series, anchor an only-at-Dragon Con mash-up of casts from Firefly, Castle, Resident Alien, and Tucker & Dale vs. Evil to meet fans, lead panel discussions, and sign autographs.
They will be joined by The Goonies’ Sean Astin, Stargate’s Richard Dean Anderson, Game of Thrones’ Lena Headey, Smallville’s Tom Welling and Erica Durance, Wednesday’s Evie Templeton and Isaac Ordonez, The Amazing Digital Circus’ Michael Kovach, Lower Decks’ Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome, legendary comics creator and co-founder of Valiant Comics, Bob Layton, best known for his definitive, industry-revitalizing work on Marvel’s Iron Man, plus author Matt Dinniman and voice actor Jeff Hays, the creative duo behind the massive multi-media franchise Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Fans of the 1990s cult classic Starship Troopers will get a chance to meet Denise Richards, Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey, and Michael Ironside.
In addition, Dragon Con will host approximately 300 authors, artists, game designers, puppeteers, scientists, engineers, and other experts to lead panels and talk with fans across 38 programming tracks, from high fantasy to hard science.
Gaming – Dragon Con, one of the largest gaming conventions in the nation, offers more than three acres of gaming at AmericasMart Building Three, plus additional gaming and game-related programming in the nearby Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel.
Dragon Con offers the full array of games, including PC and console games, miniatures, role-playing games, collectible card games, social deception games, LARP games, and a basement full of familiar and rare board games. All gaming is free to Dragon Con members and begins Thursday, Sept. 3 at 4 p.m.
Fans can explore traditional arcade cabinet favorites and imports from across the Pacific in the ever-popular Japanese and Asian arcade, all of which are free to play. Atlanta’s own Joystick Game Bar returns with a pop-up version of its retro arcade in Peachtree Center Mall.
Programming highlights include game designer and astronaut Richard Garriott, a guest at Dragon Con’s first convention in 1987, discussing his efforts to regain control of his pioneering video game Ultima, while game designer and Origins Hall of Famer David “Zeb” Cook will draw on his 18 years’ of designing Dungeons & Dragons campaigns to lead fans in discussions of game design.
Celebrity Dungeon Master Mark Meer will lead a new D&D Live featuring the cast of Hades II, including Amelia Tyler, Erin Yvette, Jason Marnocha, Judy Alice Lee, Becca Q. Co, and Ashley Barrett; Final Fantasy XIV voice actors Peter Bramhill, Sena Bryer, and Javier Prusky will be on hand to talk about their experiences creating the game; and popular Twitch streamer AnEternalEnigma returns to perform his Silent Hill speedrun showcase.
Parade – Atlanta’s most colorful and always popular Dragon Con Parade steps off on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 10 am. The parade is free and open to the public.
The parade route remains the same as in past years. Beginning at the intersection of Peachtree Street and Linden Avenue, the parade will head south on Peachtree, east (left) on Andrew Young International Boulevard and north (left) on Peachtree Center Avenue. It will end on Peachtree Center Avenue between John Portman Boulevard and Baker Street, in front of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.
The route is convenient to three MARTA stations – North Avenue, Civic Center, and Peachtree Center. Parking downtown is expected to be tight. Dragon Con encourages parade spectators to ride MARTA.
The 2026 parade will be televised live on CBS Atlanta, with live coverage starting at 10 am and will remain on air through the entire parade.
There are a number of live streaming options. DCTV will broadcast the parade live on a closed circuit to the convention’s host hotels, with rebroadcasts throughout the weekend. Parade coverage will also stream on dragoncon.tv, subscription required.
Cosplay – Dragon Con is well known for the quality of its cosplay and that tradition will certainly continue. The nation’s top cosplayers will show off their best work during the show, participating in costume contests every night of the convention and promenading throughout the five host hotels and the streets of downtown Atlanta.
Cosplay competitions remain a mainstay of Dragon Con. This year, there will be ten different contests, including the queen of competitions, Dragon Con Masquerade, the oldest continuously run competition in fandom; the craftsmanship-focused Friday Night Costume Contest; and the low-key and fan-voted Hallway Costume Contest.
Official Charity – Hope Atlanta, the state’s longest-standing nonprofit committed to preventing and ending homelessness,is Dragon Con’s official 2026 charity.
Combating homelessness is one of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ signature priorities, supported by $60 million in public funding to drive a historic public-private investment in dignified housing and supportive services. The city tapped Hope Atlanta to provide one-on-one assistance to individuals and families seeking housing and other basic needs.
This year’s effort follows a landmark 2025 campaign, which generated $325,000 for mental health advocate NAMI Georgia through auctions, exclusive merchandise, special events, and a dollar-for-dollar match from the convention. Dragon Con has raised more than $2 million for Atlanta-based charities since 2012.
In addition to fundraising, Dragon Con conducts the largest convention-based blood drive in the nation. Each year, some 3,000 fans donate more than 6,000 units of blood and blood products in the annual Robert A. Heinlein “Pay It Forward” blood drive, benefiting LifeSouth, which serves more than 40 hospitals in the Atlanta area and 110 hospitals in the Southeast.
