Katsucon 2025 – A Watery Grave

Your favorite anime convention experience turned into an unexpected disaster as Katsucon, one of North America’s largest anime gatherings, faced an emergency evacuation after a waste water pipe burst above the artist alley at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland.

You might have been among the countless attendees who noticed something was amiss, as reports indicated a persistent sewage smell throughout the convention before the dramatic pipe burst. Your nose wasn’t deceiving you – though Katsucon later clarified it was actually greywater from the kitchen’s dishwasher, not sewage.

Your fellow artists, who traveled from across the globe to showcase their work, faced devastating losses. If you were an artist with a stall beneath the burst pipes, you watched helplessly as water rained down on valuable merchandise and artwork. The financial impact hit particularly hard, considering the significant investment required for securing a stall and transporting products to the convention.

You can witness the chaos through various angles captured by affected artists scrambling to protect their displays. Artist Hua Xuan, who was positioned almost directly under the burst, documented the aftermath through their Instagram story. While they managed to salvage some prints, their entire setup required immediate dismantling to escape the water damage.

You should know that convention organizers had to close the artist alley on February 14th immediately following the incident.

Your convention experience might have been cut short as the entire hall had to close an hour early due to the incident. If you were among the affected vendors, questions about compensation for damaged merchandise remain, as many artists lost significant portions of their inventory to the unexpected deluge.

You can expect updates from convention organizers regarding the situation and potential compensation for affected artists as they work with the venue to address this unprecedented incident that transformed a celebration of anime culture into an unexpected aquatic emergency.