Convention Dates: November 11-13
Location: Galveston, TX
Booth Cost: $200 (double table price; $100 for single table)
Will I do it again?: Yes
Would I recommend?: Not if you're from outside of Houston, and only if you're just starting out in artist alleys.
Load in/out Ease: ★★★★ - Loading docks appeared to only be available to vendors. Most artists take an elevator up from the parking garages to load in.
Onicon is a convention that was once a great con to do for locals, but even now I find myself hesitating to apply to it. Yes, I am doing Onicon again, but I feel as though it's another convention that I might be outgrowing. Or, perhaps, it might be dying.
I don't have a review for 2021's Onicon, but it might have been one of the worst Onicons I've had under my belt. Granted, this is right after conventions began returning from the pandemic. They were disorganized and had been cut down to two days instead of 3. In 2021, I only made $587. Once again, my average is about $2,800.
From what I've heard, there are issues with internal affairs keeping the convention from thriving. While that's none of my business, it certainly explains why it hasn't been going as well.
2022 was at least much better, with them getting their three days back, but it was still very slow. It's a little shocking when I hear attendees saying that they thought that the con was actually dead. This means they haven't really been doing advertising and haven't had much of a presence to attendees. I made about $1006. I wasn't expecting much from it, but it still leaves me weary to continue to do Onicon in the future. I will be there for 2023, but I have to wonder if this year will be my last.