Katsucon, one of the biggest anime conventions in North America, had to be quickly evacuated after a waste water pipe burst in the ceiling above the artist alley.
Artist alleys are a core part of big cons like Katsucon, with artists flying in from all around the world to peddle their wares and bring their work right to the main audience that would want to buy it.
Getting a stall and flying all of your product to conventions isn’t cheap, and, for an unlucky few artists who were caught below the burst waste water pipes, their work was ruined.
Waste water pipe leak wreaks havoc at Katsucon
A wastewater pipe burst wide open above the Katsucon floor, raining down on the convention floor below at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland.
According to reports from several artists and guests at the convention, there was a persistent smell of sewage at the convention, but the issue wasn’t looked into further before the pipes burst.
There are several angles of the leak that were taken by affected artists who had to try and quickly move their displays out of the way.
Artist Hua Xuan put up several pictures of the aftermath on their IG story, with them tabling almost directly under the burst.
Though this artist was able to save some of their prints, their setup had to be completely dismantled to get clear of the leak.
A before and after of artist Hua Xuan’s table that was caught beneath the blast
Katsucon has since clarified with the venue hosting the event that it was greywater from the kitchen’s dishwasher. So, not quite sewage, but it makes sense that people attending were complaining of the smell.
The alley had to be evacuated for cleanup and was closed down on the night of February 14 almost immediately after the incident. They plan to re-open later in the day on February 15.
