Here’s what we’re talking about: Nobody’s taking our Comic-Con. Also, with The San Diego Union-Tribune bleeding talent, other local news organizations are banding together. Oh, our annual downtown San Diego wine festival was voted number-one in the country. And, a few notes on stuff going on at Sidebar, Malibu Farm, Adore Coffee House and the San Diego-Coronado Ferry…
COSPLAY AT A CON. It’s lazy journalism to haul out the evergreen headline that Comic-Con International might be thinking about leaving San Diego.
Yes, convention organizers will always want to have bargaining power when negotiating to stay put. The current 3-year contract runs through the 2024 event.
And of course, local tourism authorities want to keep The Con. It draws 135,000 attendees to the San Diego Convention Center (the equivalent of about 10 large-sized conventions). And those visitors spend $160 million while creating an immediate $3 million in tax revenue.
However, Las Vegas, Anaheim and Los Angeles are not going to get their greasy hands on that cash.
Realize that San Diego’s Con is the granddaddy of all similar superhero/sci-fi gatherings around the country. Fans love the location–even though the convention center is too small and the action has to spill out into the streets and neighboring venues.
Tentacling into the neighborhood has actually become part of the draw, though. It’s become part of the spectacle.
Factor in that Comic-Con International has built a headquarters and a museum in nearby Balboa Park.
And realize that the beloved act of cosplay is less restrictive in San Diego. You can’t wear masks and costumes in Las Vegas casinos, nor in theme parks to the north.
Bam! Pow! Comic-Con will sign a new 3-year contract that will extend the local fun further into the decade.
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LOCAL NEWS NEWS. Despite the apparent competition, The San Diego Sun applauds the announcement of three local community publishers banding together to share content and advertising.
Teaming up: The San Diego Community Newspaper Group, The Coast News Group and The Coronado News. The new collaboration represents a collective 200,000 weekly print readers.
The merger comes in the wake of the recent purchase of The San Diego Union-Tribune by cost-cutting corporate conglomerate Alden Global Capital. That acquisition was followed by a massive exodus of experienced writers from our city’s daily newspaper of record.
“The demand for accurate and in-depth community news is at an all-time high…” says Coast News Group associate publisher Chris Kydd.
The Sun concurs. In the long run, when there’s more competition and more legit local news published the real winners are: our community of readers.
STILL THE ONE. The rest of the country has caught on to something special that happens in downtown San Diego every November. The San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival was recently picked as #1 “Best Wine Festival” in the country in the USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice 2023 contest.
Okay, this didn’t come out of the blue. This is the fourth time since 2019 the local festival has been in the Top 10. All we know is The Sun recently picked the SDBW+FF as San Diego’s best local event and has been drooling over the festival for years.
LAST WORDS. Timed to play off the release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie flick, downtown club staple Sidebar is getting buzzy by holding a “SideBarbie World” event on August 2 … Barbie has a Malibu Beach House. By late August, Seaport Village will finally have the 14,000-square-foot Malibu Farm restaurant open for business …. So many cool connections at Adore Coffee Shop in Cortez Hill. The store name is tied to Harry Styles’ pop hit “Adore You.” And owner Maryna Goncharenko is a Ukrainian emigrant who serves a delish, patriotic, blue-and-cold-colored iced coffee … Slow your price roll, San Diego-Coronado Ferry. This touristy boat ride across the bay is cool enough for locals to be seen boarding. But the one-way price jumped a buck to $8 this year and may be hoisted to $9.20 before year’s end. Overboard! SDSun
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