Get out of Nas Vegas for a weekend and really enjoy the Labor Day Holiday break. Two fantastic attractions beckon, and I personally can’t wait to partake. The 40th Anniversary iteration of Dragon Con officially runs from Thursday, September 3 through Monday, September 7, although many revelers will arrive and have activities starting on Wednesday the 2nd. And an amazing exhibition by Amy Sherald winds down its run on September 27th at the High Museum of Art.
First things first. Dragon Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction & fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe. Call it a phenomenon, call it one of the most well attended pop-culture conventions in the country, call it the most fan fun you can have in five days. Dragon Con is where you want to be on Labor Day Weekend.
In 2025, Dragon Con, Atlanta’s internationally known pop culture, fantasy, sci-fi, and gaming convention, attracted 75,000 attendees for the year’s five-day celebration. Fans come from all 50 states and several foreign countries to meet their favorite actors, artists, authors, creators, and experts, show off their latest cosplay, make new friends, and revel in the awesomeness that is Dragon Con.
Dragon Con runs with events and activities across five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree, and Courtland Grand – plus AmericasMart Buildings Two and Three. Atlanta’s most colorful and always popular Dragon Con Parade steps off on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 10 am EDT. The parade is free and open to the public. The 2026 parade will be televised live on CBS Atlanta, with live coverage starting at 10 am and will remain on air through the entire parade.
Guests from television and movies will meet fans, lead panel discussions, and sign autographs, such as Oscar-nominated actor Edward James Olmos (Admiral William Adama), who will lead a Battlestar Galactica cast reunion with Mary McDonnell (President Laura Roslin), Katee Sackhoff (Kara “Starbuck” Thrace), Tricia Helfer (Number Six), James Callis (Dr. Gaius Baltar), Grace Park (Number Eight / Sharon Valerii), and Jamie Bamber (Lee “Apollo” Adama).
Star Trek is celebrating 60 years since it debuted in September, 1966, and actors from many of the TV shows and movies in the franchise will be in attendance, including Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike) and Melanie Scrofano (Captain Marie Batel) from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Brent Spiner (Data), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), John de Lancie (Q), James Callis (Altan Inigo Soong in Picard) from The Next Generation & Picard.
The event will host a major Star Trek Enterprise Q&A panel featuring a cast reunion of John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Connor Trinneer (Charles “Trip” Tucker, III), Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed), and Anthony Montgomery (Travis Mayweather). Star Trek: Voyager will be represented by Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), and Garrett Wang (Harry Kim). Lower Decks’ Jack Quaid (Brad Boimler), Dawnn Lewis (Captain Carol Freeman), Eugene Cordero (Sam Rutherford), Gillian Vigman (Dr. T’Ana), Tawny Newsome (Beckett Mariner), Noël Wells (Ensign D’Vana Tendi), and Eugene Cordero (Ensign Sam Rutherford) will be there, too.
From the Firefly and Serenity franchise, Nathan Fillion (Captain Malcolm Reynolds), Alan Tudyk (Hoban “Wash” Washburne), Gina Torres (Zoe Washburne), and Jewel Staite (Kaylee Frye) will be there. Additionally, other cast members from Nathan’s long-running ABC Shows Castle and The Rookie will be on hand, including Lisseth Chavez (Celina Juarez), Richard T. Jones (Sergeant Wade Grey), Melissa O’Neil (Officer Lucy Chen), and Shawn Ashmore (Wesley Evers) from The Rookie; Molly Quinn (Alexis Castle/Castle and Ashley/The Rookie), Seamus Dever (Detective Kevin Ryan/Castle and Chaz Bachman/The Rookie), Jon Huertas (Detective Javier Esposito/Castle and Alejandro Mejia aka Cesar Ojeda on The Rookie).
Alan Tudyk (Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle) will bring his Resident Alien cast members Sara Tomko (Asta Twelvetrees), Alice Wetterlund (Darcy Bloom), Levi Fiehler (Mayor Ben Hawthorne), Meredith Garretson (Kate Hawthorne), and Jewel Staite (Guest star, Beverly Hogan); and Tyler Labine (Tucker), Alan’s (Dale) costar from Tucker & Dale vs. Evil will be there.
Other franchises represented: Stargate has Richard Dean Anderson (Jack O’Neill), Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson), Teryl Rothery (Dr. Janet Fraiser) and Ben Browder (Cameron Mitchell); Game of Thrones has Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) and Julian Glover (Grand Maester Pycelle); Smallville has Tom Welling (Clark Kent), Erica Durance (Lois Lane), John Glover (Lionel Luthor), and Cassidy Freeman (Tess Mercer); Wednesday has Evie Templeton (Agnes DeMille) and Isaac Ordonez (Pugsley Addams); and The Goonies’ has Sean Astin.
Fans of the 1990s cult classic Starship Troopers will get a chance to meet Casper Van Dien (Johnny Rico), Denise Richards (Carmen Ibanez), Dina Meyer (Dizzy Flores), Jake Busey (Ace Levy), and Michael Ironside (Jean Rasczak). Other franchises represented include Babylon 5, Hades II, Hazbin Hotel, Land of the Lost, Longmire, Wynonna Earp and Yellowjackets.
While favorite actors and voice actors draw immediate notice, they represent just a quarter of the convention’s guest list. Dragon Con also brings together hundreds of authors, artists, creators, and experts in a range of fields, including science, space exploration, digital rights, and more. Dragon Con will host approximately 300 authors, artists, game designers, puppeteers, scientists, engineers, and other experts to lead panels and talk with fans across 38 programming tracks, from high fantasy to hard science.
“Our authors, comic creators, and experts do more than just entertain fans. They challenge us to see the world in new ways,” convention co-chair Rachel Reeves said. “Whether they’re talking about speculative fiction or digging into science, space, civil rights, or skepticism, they know how to take big ideas and make them accessible.”
The nation’s top cosplayers will show off their best work during the show, participating in costume contests every night of the convention and promenading throughout the five host hotels and the streets of downtown Atlanta. Cosplay competitions remain a mainstay of Dragon Con. This year, there will be ten different contests, including the queen of competitions, Dragon Con Masquerade, the oldest continuously run competition in fandom; the craftsmanship-focused Friday Night Costume Contest; and the low-key and fan-voted Hallway Costume Contest.
For gamers, Dragon Con, as one of the nation’s largest gaming conventions, brings together game designers, voice actors, and streaming stars for panels and live events alongside one of the Southeast’s largest collections of playable games. Dragon Con, one of the largest gaming conventions in the nation, offers more than three acres of gaming at AmericasMart Building Three, plus additional gaming and game-related programming in the nearby Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel.
Dragon Con offers the full array of games, including PC and console games, miniatures, role-playing games, collectible card games, social deception games, LARP games, and a basement full of familiar and rare board games. All gaming is free to Dragon Con members and begins Thursday, Sept. 3 at 4 p.m. Fans can explore traditional arcade cabinet favorites and imports from across the Pacific in the ever-popular Japanese and Asian arcade, all of which are free to play. Atlanta’s own Joystick Game Bar returns with a pop-up version of its retro arcade in Peachtree Center Mall.
Programming highlights include game designer and astronaut Richard Garriott, a guest at Dragon Con’s first convention in 1987, discussing his efforts to regain control of his pioneering video game Ultima, while game designer and Origins Hall of Famer David “Zeb” Cook will draw on his 18 years’ of designing Dungeons & Dragons campaigns to lead fans in discussions of game design.
Celebrity Dungeon Master Mark Meer will lead a new D&D Live featuring the cast of Hades II, including Amelia Tyler, Erin Yvette, Jason Marnocha, Judy Alice Lee, Becca Q. Co, and Ashley Barrett; Final Fantasy XIV voice actors Peter Bramhill, Sena Bryer, and Javier Prusky will be on hand to talk about their experiences creating the game; and popular Twitch streamer AnEternalEnigma returns to perform his Silent Hill speedrun showcase.
Every year since 2018, the Diversity Track (Diversity in Speculative Fiction & Literature Fandom) has offered a full weekend of activities, and this year is no different. Among the panels I might like to check out while I’m there are the following: Track Kickoff: Why Representation Matters, Afrofuturism: Building the Future Now, Game Night, and The Juke Joint Dance Party on Thursday night; Age in Fandom: Breaking the Stereotypes, Neurodiversity in Fandom, The Future of Storytelling: VR, Games & Animation, Hot Wings & Hot Takes on Friday; and Sunday’s Diversity track – Cosplay Party Featuring Cosplay Your Way & Black Geeks of Dragon Con. The Track Director is TSU’s own Jarvis Sheffield and his crew does a great job every year.
There is so much more to do that just won’t fit in one article, e.g. Wrestling, the art show, the Bunny Hutch, room parties, dances each night in different hotel ballrooms, the Walk of Fame, not to mention the Vendors from across the globe, the Comic & Pop Artist Alley, the Dragon Awards, Photo Ops, Workshops, the Burlesque Glamour Geek Revue, Night at Georgia Aquarium, the Gatsby & Daisy Champagne Ball, the Georgia Philharmonic Orchestra, Late Night Puppet Slam, Live Performances & DJs, Pin-Ups by the Pool Party, Video & Film Rooms (one devoted to mainstream movies and the other for Japanese Animation), and more…. For more details about the most exciting weekend in America, go to: https://www.dragoncon.org/
BTW, traffic will be madness as the Colorado Buffaloes visit the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Thursday, Sept. 3 at 8:00 PM ET; Morehouse College plays Clark Atlanta University in the inaugural ATL Labor Day Classic Saturday, Sept. 5 at 1:00 PM ET; and the Baylor Bears play the Auburn Tigers in Mercedes-Benz Stadium Saturday, Sept. 5 at 3:30 PM ET
The TSU Tigers are nearby in Athens, GA against the Georgia Bulldogs Saturday, Sept. 5, at 3:00 PM ET / 2:00 PM CT. As part of the scheduling contract, Georgia is paying Tennessee State a $600,000 guarantee for the contest, BUT TSU’s award-winning Aristocrat of Bands will not travel to the game due to SEC stadium policy restrictions on performance times and the operational burden of purchasing $100 game tickets for over 220 students and staff, on top of travel (bus, hotel & meals).
High Museum of Art Showcases Amy Sherald Retrospective
The High Museum of Art is part of the national tour for Amy Sherald’s acclaimed mid-career retrospective, the largest exhibition of her work to date. Featuring a broad range of paintings made from 2007 to 2024, the presentation includes many of Sherald’s most iconic works, along with rarely seen paintings spanning her career.
Born in Columbus, Georgia, Sherald has deep ties to Atlanta and to the High. She trained as a painter in the city and graduated from Clark Atlanta University. In 2018, the High awarded her its annual David C. Driskell Prize in African American Art and Art History, the first national award to recognize the importance of African American art. The museum presented The Obama Portraits Tour, featuring her renowned portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama, in 2022.
The High is the fourth and final venue for this exhibition, organized by and premiering at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2024, then traveling to the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Baltimore Museum of Art before coming to Atlanta in May. Learn more about this phenomenal exhibition at: https://high.org/exhibition/amy-sherald-american-sublime/
