Jacksonville's biggest celebration of anime, cosplay and all things pop culture is back this weekend, with WasabiCon taking over the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center from Friday through Sunday. The three-day event spans 165,000 square feet of the downtown venue and is billed as the city's largest and longest-running pop culture convention, drawing fans for anime, manga, Asian culture, K-pop, cosplay, tabletop gaming and video games.
WasabiCon got its start in 2012 and has grown steadily since, according to the event's own website. It expanded from a one-day gathering to a two-day convention in 2013, then made the jump to a full three-day run in 2023, per WasabiCon. That growth tracks with attendance: more than 13,000 people turned out for the 2023 event, according to Visit Jacksonville, though organizers note that figure reflects cumulative turnstile entries rather than a count of unique badgeholders.
This year's convention promises hundreds of hours of programming spread across the weekend, with Visit Jacksonville putting the figure at more than 100 hours of panels, tournaments and gaming alone. More than 78,000 square feet of the convention center will be dedicated to artists, vendors and exhibitors, the tourism site notes, giving fans plenty of ground to cover between cosplay sightings and gaming tournaments.
Getting In and Getting There
Tickets can be purchased online in advance or on-site during the event, according to the WasabiCon website. Listed single-day prices are $30 for Friday, $50 for Saturday and $40 for Sunday, with a $75 weekend pass covering all three days, per Downtown Jacksonville. Kids under three get in free when accompanied by a paying adult.
The convention center sits at 1000 Water Street in downtown Jacksonville. Anyone driving in should plan for cashless parking at $12 per vehicle per day in the venue's lot, which has more than 900 spaces available but does not offer in-and-out privileges, according to the WasabiCon parking page.
A Weathered History
WasabiCon hasn't always run smoothly. The 2020 edition was canceled entirely because of COVID-19, and the 2024 convention, originally set for October 11-13 of that year, was postponed due to Hurricane Milton, according to the event's about page. This year's return to its usual October slot comes as organizers continue to bill the gathering as Northeast Florida's largest pop culture event, a description echoed by ticketing platform Tixr.
Vendors looking to set up shop at WasabiCon 2026 paid $700 for a 10-by-10-foot booth, per the event's vendor page. As News4JAX noted in its own preview of the weekend, tickets remain available at jax.wasabicon.com for anyone looking to catch the cosplay, panels and gaming before the convention wraps up Sunday.
