A Decade of Pensacon Celebrating Ten Years of Fandom Along the Gulf Coast

by Nicole Willis

WHEN YOU’RE DRIVING DOWN PALAFOX STREET and suddenly see a Star Wars stormtrooper walking alongside Mario’s Princess Peach, you know what time it is: it’s Pensacon time. Each year, this beloved pop culture event takes over downtown Pensacola decorating the streets with creative costumes, cosplaying pets, pop culture-inspired ar t, themed celebrations, fun competitions and more. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Pensacon, and to celebrate this momentous milestone, the 2023 convention is set to be bigger than ever before.

Pensacon’s roots trace back to 2013 when founder and CEO Mike Ensley began conceptualizing the event. The first annual Pensacon convention made its debut the following year at the Pensacola Bay Center. With nearly 11,000 fans in attendance, the first con proved to be a tremendous success, prompting its return year after year. Throughout the years, the convention has continued to receive unwavering support from the local community and enthusiastic fans worldwide, growing the convention into the annual event that we know and love today.

Since the very first convention, Pensacon has continued attracting tens of thousands of pop culture-loving locals and tourists alike. Last year’s attendance numbers were estimated to be well over 33 thousand and, this year, Pensacon organizers expect attendance numbers to far exceed that number.

A milestone as large as ten years deserves a blow-out celebration, and Pensacon organizers promise that 2023 will be the con’s biggest and best year yet. With this year’s convention hosting more celebrity guests than ever before, ticket sales are through the roof and VIP passes for this year have already sold out. Filled to the brim with fans, artists, cosplayers and more, Pensacon 2023 promises to deliver an experience like never before.

“It is going to be our biggest year yet with it being our 10th anniversary event and celebration. We have more guests than we have ever had before. So in that regard, we are bringing a lot more to the community than we ever have before,” Pensacon Director of Marketing and Guest Services, Julio Diaz explained.

One of the biggest announcements made for this year’s anniversary event is the reunion of Doctor Who actors and actresses in celebration of the show’s 60th anniversary. Fans of this science fiction television series can look forward to a large presence of cast members including five doctors–Christopher Eccleston, Colin Baker, Paul McGann, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy–several companions and other characters.

“We’ve got some very big individual guests and groups of guests this year that we’re really excited about,” Diaz said. “We have been focusing a lot on it being not just Pensacon’s 10th anniversary, but the [60th] anniversary of the science fiction series Doctor Who. We have the biggest gathering of Doctor Who stars that has ever been hosted at a United States convention. We are very pleased to have that. I think we are getting a lot of people traveling to Pensacola specifically for that.”

Christopher Eccleston will likely be Pensacon 2023’s largest and mostanticipated celebrity guest. Pensacon organizers think that Eccleston is such a prominent guest that his fanbase may drive tickets to sell out on the day of his arrival.

“Saturday is always our biggest day. This year one of our biggest guests, Christopher Eccleston, is only here on Saturday,” Diaz said.

Doctor Who will not be the only fandom represented at this year’s event. Pensacon is also hosting a slew of incredible celebrity guests from television and anime serieses such as Naruto and Stranger Things, as well as movies and film franchises such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Clerks, Scream and more.

Apart from the Doctor Who celebrity guests, some of the other highly anticipated actors and actresses include Grace Van Dien who is known for her role as Chrissy Cunningham in the most recent season of the popular Netflix series Stranger Things, Rose McGowan known for playing Tatum in the 1996 Scream movie and Henry Thomas who was most known for his role as Elliott in E.T. the ExtraTerrestrial. Most known for his role in Starship Troopers, Van Dien’s father, Casper Van Dien, who is a native of Milton, will also be in attendance.

Anticipated anime voice actors include Sean Schemmel who is the voice of Son Goku in the Dragon Ball franchise, and Colleen Ann VillardO’Shaughnessey who voices Ino Yamanaka and Konohamaru Sarutobi in Naruto. Whether you enjoy sci-fi, horror, fantasy or anime, just about every genre and fandom will be represented at Pensacon through guests, artists and vendors.

As usual, Pensacon will be hosted at the Pensacola Bay Center with artists, vendors and celebrities scattered throughout. The main floor of the Bay Center will once again serve as the main vendor floor where more than 75 different types of vendors will be selling a variety of pop culture and character-themed merchandise. On the second floor, fans will have a chance to meet and greet their favorite celebrities, take photos, get autographs and more. The “Artist

Alley” and “Writer’s Row” portions of the convention, will be held on both the third floor and around the top ring of the Bay Center. Here, attendees will find dozens of artists and writers from across the country. Attendees can also meet the artists and writers, view their works, and purchase anything that they may have for sale.

As always, though, the Pensacon festivities won’t be limited to just the Bay Center. A variety of venues throughout downtown and the Pensacola Historic District will host events in conjunction with Pensacon. Some venues will be the same as in previous years, for example, the Pensacola Cultural Center and the Rex Theatre will once again host Pensacon events. In addition to these venues and other venues throughout the Pensacola Historic District, Pensacon will host panels and different types of gaming events at The Wright Place, an event space located inside the First United Methodist Church.

“There are several big rooms at this facility that are going to enable us to expand the audience over what we have had the past couple of years in terms of some of our largest panels,” Diaz explained. “Having this facility is going to allow us to turn the Pensacola Museum of Commerce over to gaming. So we will be able to bring gaming back for the first time in a few years.” In previous years, Pensacon hosted gaming events at the Pensacola Grand Hotel which has since been closed.

Aside from the special appearances of the Doctor Who cast members, Pensacon’s 10th anniversary celebration will be marked by a special party held at Seville Quarter. The party will feature Pensacon fun, food, drinks and live music from the goth band Vision Video.

“On Saturday night, we will be throwing a party to celebrate our 10th anniversary that is free to attend for all of our badge holders or Saturday day pass holders. The party will be at Seville Quarter in Phineas Phogg’s,” Diaz said.

“We’ve done parties at Seville Quarter before, but it has been a

We are excited to be back there in downtown Pensacola’s largest entertainment complex and celebrating our 10th birthday.”

Through the ten years of Pensacon, one thing has remained the same: community. Whether you’re a superfan that attends the con decked out in cosplay or someone who stops by for a day to see what the event is all about, everyone is welcomed to the fun that is Pensacon.

“The biggest thing is really the community more than anything else in a number of ways. Everybody gets together and is in a community that’s accepting and relates to each other… everybody is there because they’re a fan of something; they get to be among their people for the weekend and see people that they don’t see every day. It is a great place to meet new people, make friends and renew friendships every year if you don’t get to spend time with those folks throughout the year in other places,” Diaz said.

Pensacon has grown beyond just being a simple three-day convention. The event has created ripples throughout the Pensacola community. It has become something that unites old and young generations of Pensacolians through their favorite pop culture franchises. It is days of high-traffic and new customers for local shops, venues and restaurants. It is a month of fun as the Pensacola International Airport becomes the Pensacola “Intergalactic” Airport.

“The Pensacola community, Escambia County, the Panhandle and even Southern Alabama have really embraced this convention. That includes the individual fans, the businesses that have partnered with us, and the city and county government that have been so important to making things happen with us. We’ve just been very lucky to enjoy that support, and it’s something we don’t take for granted,” Diaz said.

If you are interested in seeing what Pensacon is all about and want to take part in the ten-year anniversary celebration, single-day and weekend passes are still available for purchase: Single-day passes range from $35 to $45 each, varying by day, and weekend passes are $85 each. Tickets, a jam-packed guest list and participating venues list, parking information and much more can be found online at pensacon.com.

Be sure to check out @PensacolaPensacon on Instagram and @Pensacon on Facebook for important updates, special announcements, photos and more.