Comic Con Palm Springs brings thousands to the desert

Comic Con Palm Springs drew thousands of visitors from all over the world to the city this past weekend, a time which otherwise might be slow. More than 12,000 people filled the Palm Springs convention center, some traveling all the way from London just for the event.

Debora Alexander owns Peabody’s Cafe and said that as a business owner, she’s excited about any big event in August.

“Well, when it was announced I was just so enthusiastic, mostly because I wanted to go myself, but also to make money,” Alexander said.

It was just as busy next door at Lush Couture.

“It was actually just a really nice surprise that we were gonna have such a good weekend, because, of course, comparing to last year, there was no comparison. We were actually expecting it to be really slow and then… boom, once we saw that Comic Con was coming in town, we got ready and I’ll tell you what, we were fully staffed, because the stores were full all day,” said manager Jacqueline Jones.

Comic Con founder Chris Spellman said there’s a specific reason they chose the weekend before Labor Day weekend.

“This being our home, a huge driving force was to be able to do something that would allow our community to benefit as best as I could,” Spellman said.

Mayor Robert Moon said everything in town was packed.

“We had 10 to 12,000 people at the Renaissance, which is our biggest convention hotel, was absolutely sold out and they spilled over to two or three other hotels,” Moon said.

In case you were wondering whether or not Comic Con will be returning, Spellman said not to worry.

“Yes, absolutely, there are plans immediately to bring it back. Everyone is very excited, the team is excited, more people want to come aboard the team,” Spellman said.

Spellman said they’re considering expanding the convention to include more days during the week. The city is expecting big things for this event in the future.

“I could foresee this event becoming as big as the film festival, the international film festival which would be great,” Moon said.