Atlanta's crate-diggers had somewhere to be this weekend, as the touring record fair VinylCon! set up shop for a second time at the Yaarab Shrine Center for a two-day vinyl celebration running Saturday and Sunday. The event marked a quick return to the city, coming just six months after its Southeast debut drew a strong local crowd earlier this year.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, VinylCon! is a two-day music celebration held at the Shrine Center, and this weekend's gathering followed what the station described as a successful Atlanta debut. That first Atlanta stop happened in February, when the fair drew thousands of attendees before organizers scheduled the follow-up convention for Saturday and Sunday, as reported by Rough Draft Atlanta.
This time around, the convention featured more than 50 individual record sellers pulling in stock from across the region and the country, according to the same outlet's reporting, alongside local food trucks and a full bar set up inside the hall. Inventory at the fair has spanned thousands of rare LPs, 45s, CDs, cassettes, and other music memorabilia, per the fair's own event page.
What It Cost to Get In
Ticket pricing for the weekend was tiered by day and access level. Sunday general admission ran $10, Saturday general admission was $12.75, and collectors willing to pay $32.50 for Saturday VIP early entry got two hours of advance digging time before the doors opened to everyone else, per Rough Draft Atlanta's reporting.
The soundtrack for the weekend was handled by DJ and collector Skeme Richards, whose sets ran exclusively on vinyl turntables throughout both days, according to Secret Atlanta. Every DJ on the bill performed strictly using analog physical media, the outlet reports, keeping the format consistent with the merchandise being sold just a few feet away.
A Venue With a History of Public Gatherings
The Yaarab Shrine Center sits at 400 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, between Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward and Midtown, and is owned by the Yaarab Shriners. The hall regularly hosts public expos, roller derby bouts, and community festivals, and offers free on-site parking, according to background reporting from WABE.
VinylCon! is produced by Bird Dog Ventures LLC and operates as a touring convention with stops that include Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Denver, and New York City, according to BroadwayWorld. The circuit was founded by Kobi Waldfogel, who first co-founded Denver's Rocky Mountain Record Show in 2021 before launching VinylCon! in Philadelphia in 2024 after concluding that traditional commercial trade shows lacked community spirit.
How Atlanta Stacks Up Against Other Stops
Atlanta's convention is modest next to the circuit's biggest market. VinylCon!'s spring Los Angeles gathering drew more than 4,000 attendees before its August show expanded to host over 100 dealers, according to Secret Los Angeles. Hoodline previously reported on that Los Angeles stop, where the circuit hosted by founder Kobi Waldfogel flooded downtown with dealers as national vinyl sales hit record highs.
The Atlanta return lands amid a broader boom for physical media. U.S. vinyl record revenues crossed $1.04 billion in 2025 across 46.8 million LPs sold, marking 19 consecutive years of market growth and outpacing CD revenue threefold, according to Forbes. It was the first calendar year U.S. vinyl revenue topped $1 billion since 1983.
Local Record Culture Already Runs Deep
Traveling fairs like VinylCon! aren't landing in a vacuum. Atlanta's independent brick-and-mortar music scene remains active in its own right, as shown by Little Five Points institution Criminal Records, which marked its 35th anniversary with a block party earlier this month. That shop, established in 1991, has stood as a fixture of the city's vinyl culture well before touring conventions began adding Atlanta to their circuit stops.
