MechaCon

MechaCon is an annual three day anime convention in Lafayette, Louisiana and New Orleans, Louisiana and held on a weekend sometime during July or August. MechaCon mixes anime, Transformers, and Japanese culture.

History
Established under Sennin Productions, LLC on October 2, 2004, MechaCon held its first convention weekend on August 26-28, 2005 at the Hilton Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana. MechaCon’s inaugural weekend is especially unique in that the now-infamous Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the coast of Louisiana mere hours after MechaCon closed its doors. With the arrival of Hurricane Rita on the Louisiana Gulf Coast less than a month later, the organizers of MechaCon (Jon Russo and Peter Bares) debated on the future of the convention.

Considering a sophomore convention to be a necessary part of the social recovery of the Louisiana Gulf Coast region, MechaCon’s Organizers decided to proceed in planning a second MechaCon. On August 11-13, 2006, MechaCon again opened its doors. As a special part of MechaCon’s 2006 programming, Harmony Gold USA provided fans of the Robotech franchise with the first-ever public screening of the film Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles. 100% of the funds raised from the screening was donated to The Salvation Army’s ongoing Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita recovery efforts.

Event history
Breaking with tradition, MechaCon 2010 will be at the Mariott hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana due to the con's growing popularity.