Greetings from Katsucon Anime Convention 2025!
This year’s convention has been a wild ride with plenty of ups and downs. I’d love to share all the details with you damn fine weebs, but time is not on my side, and I still have a lot to get to in this convention. I probably won’t get a chance until I’m back home Sunday evening. For now, here’s a quick rundown of the weirdest and nastiest incident yet!
A Disaster In Artist Alley Prompts an Evacuation!
Yes, you read that right. On Friday afternoon—the very first day of the con—chaos struck. A pipe burst right in the middle of Artist Alley, spraying what we all initially thought was raw sewage. Panic set in fast as artists and customers scrambled to evacuate. Merchandise got soaked, the hall shut down for an extended period (costing artists valuable floor time), and at least one unlucky fan ended up in the hospital for decontamination and evaluation.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the smell was awful. Later, con officials clarified that it was actually grey water from the kitchen… but let’s be real—that’s only marginally better.
Here’s some video footage I captured of the madness:
So Bad It Made the Nightly News
This disaster wasn’t just convention gossip—it was so bad that it made the nightly news on multiple Washington, D.C. stations. In this tweet, you can see reporter Scott Thurman covering the chaos and commenting on just how foul the whole situation was. For a convention that usually flies under the radar in D.C., this must have been truly shocking for the news to take notice! It was very shocking to us! Especially those of us who smelled it!!
Mums the word from Katucon Itself
Katsucon still hasn’t commented on the incident, aside from saying it’s working with the Gaylord Hotel. Meanwhile, fans are calling for artists to be compensated for their losses and damages. Whether that actually happens remains to be seen.
On the bright side, Artist Alley opened today at 12 PM (instead of the planned 10 AM) and will stay open an extra hour until 9 PM. When I walked through, it was absolutely mobbed!
That’s all for now! I’ll share more about the con once I make it home. Stay tuned
