Setsucon
About the Convention
Setsucon is an anime convention held annually each January at the Blair County Convention Center in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Run under the Penn State Anime Organization since 2007, Setsucon has been bringing anime, manga, and Japanese culture to the winter months in Central Pennsylvania.
After a year of planning, Setsucon debuted in 2007 as a one-day event with 288 people filling the halls of the Days Inn Penn State. Since then, the convention has expanded to more than 1,400 attendees (and moved 45 minutes away) to fill the halls once again, this time at the Blair County Convention Center. With a new space and a new city to call our home, the convention has continued to grow and improve in ways that could never have been dreamed of at the beginning.
Since the start, the focus has been on three pillars: Anime, Cosplay, Gaming. The convention holds events, such as fan and voice actor panels, anime viewings, a cosplay masquerade, iron cosplay challenge, gaming gauntlet tournament, and much more to make the weekend as exciting as possible for any type of fan. With both a family-friendly atmosphere and big con amenities, Setsucon has become a premier location to celebrate anime and Japanese culture during the chilly winter.
Our Mission
Setsucon strives to bring a safe and inclusive social environment to anime and manga fans of all ages across Central Pennsylvania and beyond. We aim to bring the big convention feel to a more intimate and affordable convention.
About the Name
While planning the first Setsucon, we discussed several names. Our original name was to be “Daikon” like the radish and also “dai” (大) for “big”. It was decided that this might be confusing as there was a “Daicon” held in Japan previously. Our next choice was “Setsucon”. “Setsu” comes from the Chinese reading (on’yomi) of the Japanese word for “snow”, yuki (雪). Since the convention is held during the winter in a region where snow is not uncommon, we felt that the name was fitting.