Dragon Con reports sightly less attendance than expected

Dragon Con draws tens of thousands of people to Atlanta’s downtown every year, and this year was no different.
But this year’s attendance did not quite meet expectations, the organizers said.
According to press releases from the event, Dragon Con anticipated 85,000 people. About 80,000 people made the trip this year.
“We are proud to have organized an exciting convention that gave fans an opportunity to show off their spectacular costumes, make new friends, and meet their favorite creators. These are the reasons fans come back to Dragon Con year after year,” convention co-chair Rachel Reeves said in a press release. “Dragon Con has always been focused on delivering an awesome fan experience. We are perfectly comfortable with this year’s attendance.”
The convention drew attendees from all 50 states and from countries around the world including Australia, New Zealand and Japan, the press release said.
The convention raised $85,000 for a charity called Literacy Action, Inc. which promotes literacy and life skills for under-educated adults in the Atlanta area. The 2019 charity will be the American Heart Association’s Georgia chapter. The selection is in honor of Thom Trainor, who directed the convention’s Comics and Pop Artist division. He died over the summer, the press release says.
“Thom’s love of comics and art helped shape our comics and pop art programming into the unique experience it is today,” Reeves said in the press release.