Cosplayers wearing replica Mandalorian Beskar bounty hunter costumes pose for photos on a copy of the original Star Trek TV series bridge at last year's Ancient City Con. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on September 10, 2025 at 12:09 pm
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Science fiction, anime and cosplay will transport themselves into St. Augustine this weekend as the Ancient City Con comes back to the World Golf Village resort.
The convention is set for Friday through Sunday in the St. Johns Convention Center on South Legacy Trail. It will feature appearances by film and TV stars like Doug Jones of Star Trek: Discovery and Hellboy and Terry Farrell of Deep Space Nine.
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This is the 17th edition of the convention, and the estimated 6,000 fans who show up will see a large variety of activities, Con promoter Max Michaels said.
“Between celebrity guest stars that don’t normally come to this area, we have a whole room full of tabletop and card gaming. We have a room for arcade games and console gaming,” he said. “There’s panels going on. There’s cosplayers to meet. There’s vendors to check out. There’s comic book artists to visit. There’s just a lot going on that attracts a wide range of pop culture fandom.”
Anime voice actors like Major Attaway of Dragon Ball Z are also scheduled, along with film and cosplay seminars. Among the science fiction fan groups there will be Daleks of Florida, which build and display the evil robots that seek to “Exterminate!” humans in the long-running British Doctor Who TV series. They will display three Daleks, as well as a replica of Doctor Who’s Tardis.
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The event is one of the longest-running science fiction conventions in the area. It is operated by Hall of Heroes, which also produces the Jekyll and Hyde Pop Culture-Horror Con on Oct. 18 in Brunswick, Georgia, and Enchantment Con on Dec. 6 and 7 in Jacksonville.
Ancient City Con’s longevity
One reason for Ancient City Con’s longevity is that it has had only two owners. Michaels and his company are the latest.
“When the original owner had it, I was a vendor, and I loved being around that show and I thought it was a beloved show,” he said. “We picked it up and rolled with it and brought it back to St. Augustine, upgraded it and brought in more high-caliber celebrity guests and cosplayers.”
St. Johns County now owns the World Golf Village property, which includes an IMAX movie theater and the former PGA Hall of Fame museum. But as the county pursues options to redevelop the site, the St. Johns Convention Center, its adjoining hotel and the Caddyshack restaurant nearby remain in operation, and so will Ancient City Con.
“I really hope the county would do something and help make that other museum space into an extra outsourced convention space,” Michaels said. “As far as we know, absolutely. We have 200 vendors on the waiting list, waiting to get in this weekend that can’t because we don’t have physical places to put them. We have been sold out for months. I would love to have more space to put more people.”
Ancient City Con tickets are $70 per person for the weekend. More information and the schedule are at ancientcitycon.com.
