Labor Day weekend in Atlanta means one thing: Dragon Con!
Dragon Con 2022 runs from Thursday, Sept. 1 to Monday, Sept. 5 with events and activities across five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree, and Sheraton Atlanta – and AmericasMart Buildings Two and Three.
If you’ve never been, there’s something for everyone: costumes of all skill levels (some of the more elaborate can be seen during the Dragon Con parade or the costume contest); panels on anime, puppetry, writing, YA literature, etc.; TV shows, both current and classic; gaming halls; guests from film and television, and a sense of revelry and excitement found nowhere else. And the fun never stops until you go to sleep or the con ends, whichever comes first.
As for guests … two members of the original Star Trek television series, William Shatner and Walter Koenig, lead a long list of celebrity guests who will appear at this year’s convention. Joining Shatner and Koenig, Star Trek fans will have a chance to meet Anson Mount, Anthony Rapp, Michelle Hurd, and many other cast members from the latest installments of the beloved franchise, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Joining them are Emmy-nominated actor Morena Baccarin; Once Upon a Time’s Jennifer Morrison; Lauren Ridloff, Tony-nominated deaf actress from Marvel’s Eternals; and David Ramsey and Emily Bett Rickards at the head of a long list of actors representing the Arrowverse.
Other top guests from television and movies include Charmed’s Holly Marie Combs; Stargate Atlantis’ Joe Flanigan and Rachel Luttrell; Encanto’s Diane Guerrero, Mauro Castillo, and Adassa (they won’t talk about Bruno, though!); as well as voice actors Kaitlyn Robrock (Disney’s Minnie Mouse), Jim Cummings (Disney’s Winnie the Pooh and Ed the hyena from The Lion King), and Nolan North (Superman).
Parade – The always popular Dragon Con Parade steps off on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 10 am. After a year in which only badged Dragon Con members could attend, the parade is once again 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 2022 parade will once again be televised and streamed live on Atlanta’s CW69 and Dragon Con’s DCTV. CW69’s live coverage will begin at 10 am and will remain on air through the entire parade, with a time-edited rebroadcast on Sunday, Sept. 4 at 11 p.m.
- 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 be available through the Dragon Con Goes Virtual streaming app.
Official Charity – Open Hand Atlanta is Dragon Con’s official charity for 2022. Through auctions and other charity events, plus a dollar-for-dollar match up to $100,000 from Dragon Con, the convention will raise money to support this important organization.
Since 2013, the convention has consistently raised more than $100,000 for each of its annual official charities. In 2021, Dragon raised more than $140,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta.
Open Hand’s mission is to help underserved individuals prevent or better manage chronic disease through tailored nutrition interventions, which include a variety of therapeutic meal plans as well as nutrition counseling and coaching delivered by an experienced team of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists. With the dedicated support of over 14,000 volunteers, they currently prepare, pack, and deliver over 5,500 meals per day in Metro Atlanta and rural Georgia.
In addition to fundraising, Dragon Con conducts the largest convention-based blood drive in the nation. In 2021, some 3,000 fans donated 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.