About 30,000 fans gathered for Pensacon this year, and plans are already underway for 2025

After bringing in about 30,000 people to downtown Pensacola for another successful year, Pensacon organizers are already ready to share the love with fans through planning next year's festival.

The 12th annual Pensacon will be Feb. 14-16 and themed “We Love Pensacon," as a nod to the festival falling on Valentine's weekend.

Twelve initial celebrity guests were announced live Sunday afternoon at the Pensacola Bay Center, including actors from the popular Amazon Prime animated series “Hazbin Hotel,” Ericka Henningsen, Blake Roman and Amir Talai.

Another exciting arrival will be a reunion of the Space Marines from the seminal 1986 sci-fi film “Aliens,” featuring actors Michael Biehn, Mark Rolston, Cynthia Scott, Daniel Kash, William Hope, Jenette Goldstein and Rico Ross.

Also scheduled are All-Elite Wrestling (AEW) superstars Deonna Purrazzo and Orange Cassidy.

“These 12 guests are just the start of a 2025 guest list that will continue to grow, just as our love for Pensacola and our fans grows with each new year,” Pensacon organizers released in a statement.

Pensacon CEO Mike Ensley told the News Journal that organizers are hoping to have some fun with next year’s Valentine’s Day special weekend.

"It's going to be a great time. We'll probably do some special events leading up to Valentine's Day. Hey, maybe we'll have a mass proposal," Ensley said. “We've had a wedding before. Why not some proposals?”

He recalled how one year Dr. Who cosplayers got engaged in the photo-op with the actual Dr. Who actors.

“We don't want to scare anybody and bring David Bradley back from Game of Thrones. We don't need a Red Wedding....We love that people love us and love coming here and having a good time, and that's what it's really all about.”

What were some of the 2024 Pensacon highlights?

One of the changes to Pensacon this year was to make the First United Methodist Church neighboring the Pensacola Bay Center a core location. According to Ensley, that decision helped keep events running smoothly and guests happy. Also, the sunny 70-degree weather didn’t hurt.

“Everybody seemed to really enjoy the new facility we're using over at the Wright center and First United Methodist Church. It seemed to make everything much easier for everyone to have everything in one ? the Bay Center and that location ? just have two locations this year,” Ensley said. “The lines have been very manageable. Everybody's had a great time. Our guests have all said it's been wonderful. We have beautiful weather. I mean, it was gorgeous this weekend. Hopefully everyone had a great time.”

Personally, Ensley’s highlight reel included emceeing a panel for the actors of the 1981 film “An American Werewolf in London.”

“That was the first time all three of those actors have been together since the movie came out,” Ensley said.

The other big highlight was Saturday night’s Pensacon after-party at The Handlebar, which included live bands and also actors from The Rocky Horror Show.

“That was really fun…there was a great spirit, great feeling in there last night,” Ensley said.

Regardless of all the activities offered on an hourly basis throughout the three days, many of the attendees mentioned how much they simply enjoyed creating their cosplay and then interacting with others. These were celebrated in an adult costume contest on Saturday and kids contest on Sunday afternoon.

Villains, princesses, heroes and horrors all shared the stage at First United Methodist Church.

The kids costumes were even more delightfully creative, one leading to a chant of “pump-kin-cat,” “pump-kin-cat” breaking out in the crowd.

For visitor Ava Folley, coming from Niceville decked out as Tony Tony Chopper from anime series “One Piece," the weekend was about witnessing the creativity in the cosplay.

“Hanging out with all the cosplayers and seeing everyone’s just amazing portrayals of their different characters. It’s amazing to see how creative people can get,” Folley said.

“You always see a new costume every year,” Milton local Justin Heath added.

Some even opted to create an original character, like Kallan Powell of Pensacola, who created their “Noxious” costume, with an original logo pinned onto the costume’s jean jacket.

For Ariel Dampier, vines winding around her from a Poison Ivy cosplay, a character from DC Comics, it was about the one-of-a-kind finds from the vendors that lined the merchandise floor and upstairs Artist’s Alley that made the weekend.

“It’s so unique here…I got a really cool wood burned art piece that is of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, which I really love the older horror movies, so that’s probably my favorite piece. I also got some really cool outfits that you can really only find at a con. Handmade,” Dampier said. “That’s one of the awesome things about going to a con is you find things that you really can only find at a con. They’re unique, they’re original and supporting local artists is something that I definitely support.”

Then of course there are the celebrity meet and greets that stole the show. This happened firsthand to Ryan Dombrigues, who was elated to see American professional wrestler Sammy Guevara.

“My favorite part about Pensacon is meeting the celebrities and seeing all the amazing costumes,” Dombrigues said.

Pass sales for Pensacon 2025 will open soon and advance purchase is highly recommended.

Fans are urged to follow Pensacon.com and their social media on Facebook and Instagram all year long to be the first to receive new announcements.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacon 2025: Here's what we know, and what you missed from 2024