Blerdcon stands for Black Nerd Convention, and as stated on their website, is a “convention that celebrates Black nerd culture while also being inclusive of all backgrounds.”
Blerdcon 2026 took place March 6-8 at the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia just moments from Washington, D.C. In 2027 it will be held March 5-7. This year’s theme was cars and bars and next year’s will be Slam, a wrestling theme. 2025 drew in 12,000 attendees and jumped to 15,000 this year. Its first year, in 2017 hosted 1,800. Children 10 and under were able to attend for free as long as they were accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Blackpantherrt1 with his car
Guests this year included Redman, Samantha Inoue-Harte, Zazie Beetz, Godfrey, Carl Jones, and Dulce Sloan. Redman performed on the main stage. There were also DJs on the bottom floor of the hotel performing for the duration of the convention, such as local DJ Dave. This is a staple part of Blerdcon and the area is surrounded by arcade games and fighting game tournaments which are projected onto the wall.
DJ Dave
Similar to last year, attendees picked up their badges at the Hilton, which was a few blocks away. In a parking lot outside the Hyatt was the outdoor DJ area with the food vendors. Among them were street tacos, God Day Crepe, soul food, tea and coffee trucks, and much more. Blerdcon has the largest food truck rally of any convention in the United States. On the blocked off street next to the outdoor eating area were a group of itashas, or cars with anime and comic wraps. Most had X-Men, Black Panther, Mario, Evangelion, Blade, and other decals on them. The Supra did not have a wrap. If you didn’t have a chance to see these cars at Blerdcon, you can check some of them out in the arcade room at Otakon later this summer.
One popular part of the convention was the cosplay meetups, which were held on the bottom floor of the hotel. The meetup room capacity was limited, but everyone was able to have their photos taken inside via character swaps. Below are a pair of Blastoises from the Saturday night Pokemon meetup. Other popular meetups were the X-Men and wrestling ones.
