FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention

FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention, formerly known as Salt Lake Comic Con/FanXperience, is a popular culture convention held in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to its organizers, it is the largest comic convention in North America per capita and one of the most attended conventions in Utah.

The first Comic Con in Salt Lake City took place on September 5–7, 2013. The event was produced by Dan Farr Productions. Originally, it was to be held in Sandy, Utah. However, ticket sales were unexpectedly high and continued to increase, so the organizers had to move the convention to the Salt Palace Convention Center that boasts 515,000 square feet of exhibition space.

Such a great interest in the convention was caused by several factors including announcements of special guests such as Stan Lee (comic book writer, Marvel Comics), William Shatner (actor known for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek franchise) and Adam West (actor who achieved success for the title role in the 1960s series Batman).

As a result, the 2013 Salt Lake Comic Con drew between 70,000 and 80,000 attendees. The convention broke two records, becoming the largest first-year Comic Con in North America and the largest convention of any kind ever held in the state of Utah (previous pop culture convention held in Utah was attended by about 27,000 people).

Inspired by the convention's success, the organizers held the second convention in merely six months. Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience drew over 100,000 attendees, breaking the first festival's attendance record and making it the third largest Comic Con event in the US. Despite a conflict with San Diego Comic Con International that sent a cease and desist letter over the use of the name “Comic Con”, Salt Lake Comic Con refused to rename the event. The conflict gradually faded away without affecting the reputation and attendance of Utah's largest multi-genre fan convention. In 2017, however, Salt Lake Comic Con was rebranded as FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention.

FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention programming is similar to that of other pop culture conventions. It includes meet & greets, photo ops and autograph sessions with special guests, panel discussions, exhibitions, gaming tournaments, a cosplay contest, and a plethora of other events. Due to good organizing and a large number of special guests (including Patrick Stewart, Nathan Fillion, Karl Urban, John Barrowman, Lou Ferrigno and others) the popularity of FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention is constantly growing.