Anime Weekend Atlanta had that moment this evening. Where colorful costumers had walked, the only sights were people hauling carts loaded with chairs and equipment. The TV signs advertising weekend panels and contests now bore the schedules of business meetings. That special convention sound - a blend of anime music, excited chatter and video game bleeps - was replaced with the hum of vacuum cleaners. 

It's over. Time to make sure the hotel room is cleared of the weekend's purchases and souvenirs. Pack the bags and get ready for the trip home. 

While Anime Weekend Atlanta is hundreds of miles from the author's home, it's the author's home convention. For years, the author dreamed of attending an anime convention (somewhere on a shelf lies a 1991 AnimeCon program book purchased by mail through an associate membership). The author nearly got to AWA in 1996. He purchased a membership but never made the trip. 

What followed made a big impression. A few weeks after the con, an envelope arrived at the author's address. Inside was the program book, badge and packet materials the author would have received had he attended the con. That kind gesture convinced the author that AWA was the sort of event he should attend, and the trip to AWA III followed in 1997. 

AWA has a fine group of people in charge - Dave, Joe, Lloyd, Badger, Jingoro, Stan and the rest. Their friendliness and humanity are a big reason that people keep coming back to AWA, year after year. They've become such a success at staging the con that twice, they've had to move AWA to larger quarters to handle the growing crowds (around 1,400 this year). 

People make anime conventions work, grow and entertain. The anime is only a small part of the story - these cons aren't film festivals, they're parties and celebrations. The energy at a con comes from the people who are enthralled by their exposure to the many worlds of anime. All those costumes, all that effort to travel across the miles comes from a love of this unique form of entertainment. 

AWA III was the birthplace of this web page. The author thought it would be fun to drag a digital camera and a laptop to the convention, take some pictures, post them on the Web and see what happened. AWA was such an overwhelming experience that the author couldn't wait another year, so he traveled to as many conventions as he could reach. The reaction to the web page was so positive that the author became determined to live up to a reputation of posting convention stuff online as quickly as possible. 

In 1997, the author slipped away on AWA's final day to attend the season's final Winston Cup stock car race. This year, there was another major race in the area, the Petit LeMans sports car race at Road Atlanta. The temptation was there (the author is an anime fan, but he was a racer first), but the anime convention promised to offer more fun. The decision was easy: stay at the hotel all weekend. 

This report will mark a slowing of the changes on this page. Nothing's wrong, it's just the end of the anime con season in the U.S. Four long and lonely months will follow, with no conventions to brighten a dull life. Then it starts all over again in February 1999: Katsucon, Animazement and Anime Central at monthly intervals, followed by a flood of summer conventions. The author plans to head home and start making hotel reservations so he'll be ready to do it all over again with more convention reports next year, filed as fast as the modem can handle the uploads.