Citing the growing concerns over the spread of coronavirus in the Seattle area, ReedPOP has officially postponed 2020’s Emerald City Comic Con until the summer. The news came via an email to attendees.

The full text of the email is below, but the tl;dr version is that dates are forthcoming for the rescheduled show, and all ticketholders will be issued refunds without having to request them.

Each year the Emerald City Comic Con team works their hardest to do right by the thousands of fans that come together in Seattle. We want to create a space for you to gather, be yourselves and make memories with those who matter to you most. We have been closely monitoring the situation around the COVID-19 virus in Seattle, and, after many hours of conversation internally and consultation with local government officials and the tourism bureau, we have decided to move next week’s Emerald City Comic Con to Summer 2020 with date and detail announcement forthcoming. We did everything that we could to run the event as planned, but ultimately, we are following the guidance of the local public health officials indicating that conventions should now be postponed.

>> To all of our fans who purchased tickets, you will receive a refund on your tickets, no further action is needed on your part. Due to the volume, we expect you will receive your refund in 30 days. We appreciate your patience and understanding. <<

Our hearts go out to the entire Seattle community, everyone impacted by the COVID-19 virus, and all of you, the nearly 100,000 amazing human beings who look forward to this event each year. Our team was incredibly excited to see you at Emerald City Comic Con next week, however, fans, artists, exhibitors and the rest of the community are what make Reedpop events so special and it is our duty to make sure that your safety comes first.

We know that this decision is going to greatly impact many of our individual creators, small businesses and service workers. To those whose careers depend on ECCC – we will do everything that we can over the coming days and weeks to highlight your work and we ask that our entire community support you as we realize your personal livelihoods may be impacted.

Reedpop remains determined and committed to running Emerald City Comic Con in 2020 and we are working closely with Visit Seattle and the Washington State Convention Center to secure alternate dates this summer. As we explore options for new dates, please know that our priority is to bring you an equally amazing event.

We appreciate all the messages that we have received over the course of the past week. The feedback was invaluable in helping us determine next steps.

Stay tuned to our website and social channels for additional information about when we will next see you in Seattle.

The postponement comes after dozens of exhibitors, both on the main con floor and in Artists Alley, made the decision to pull out of the con. ReedPOP had already offered attendees and Artists Alley exhibitors the option to request refunds should they wish not to attend for fear of getting sick. No word at this point on whether refunds will also be issued for exhibitors on the convention floor.

1 COMMENT

  1. So Toronto Comicon is supposed to be happening March 20 to 22nd. Toronto has 27 cases of the coronavirus but so far all cases it has been people getting the coronavirus from other countries and travelling to Toronto. There has been no new cases of people catching the virus locally.

    The event is run by Fan Expo, so they already have Fan Expo Canada in Toronto at the end of August. So I don’t know if they would postpone the event and take away from their other event.

    However, I haven’t heard of anyone cancelling or any vendors pulling out of the event, at least not yet.

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