Fans pack Raleigh Convention Center for 'Animate!' as expansion looms

Thousands are packing the Raleigh Convention Center this weekend for the annual Animate! Raleigh convention.

The convention celebrates all things animation, from comic books to voice actors. It was started by the founders of GalaxyCon, one of Raleigh’s biggest summer events.

Inside the convention center were stormtroopers, samurai cosplayers and hundreds of stalls for merchants.

According to Animate! Raleigh organizers, the convention will bring $4 million in economic impact to Raleigh.

“We’ll have over 10,000 individuals coming through,” said Peter Katz, the senior vice president for GalaxyCon. “Our economic impact is very high for the city.”

GalaxyCon itself has become so big that it has outgrown the convention center, with Katz adding that more than 700 vendors are on the waitlist to set up shop for the summer convention.

“We take up every square inch we could get,” Katz said. “We also expand into the hotels and do events there.”

This weekend serves as a celebration, and a swan song, as the convention will be one of the last before the convention center begins its long-awaited expansion.

“We are rooting for it to come back as soon as possible because we need the space,” Katz

In 2023, city leaders approved the expansion project, which would add more than 80,000 square feet of space to the convention center.

Additionally, the project will also bring the Omni Hotel to downtown, a 55,000-square-foot hotel expected to have 550 guest rooms. As part of the hotel development and convention center expansion, Red Hat Amphitheater will move a block south from its current location on South Street.

“All of that’s going to be very important for us because that’s the only way we’re going to be able to grow,” Katz said.

The convention center expansion is expected to start in 2026 and finish in 2028. The expansion can’t come soon enough for artists like Taryn Cozzy.

“Fingers crossed, I’ll eventually get into GalaxyCon,” she said.

Before the start of GalaxyCon 2024, organizers and city officials inked a deal that would keep the convention in the city through 2031, with Animate! Raleigh staying through 2030.

Organizers plan to have both conventions during the years the convention center will be under renovation.