We want to thank all of you for being patient with us while we have been monitoring the spread of the coronavirus and what that means for the event and your safety. Unfortunately, we have decided that we are no longer able to proceed with Anime North 2020 on May 22-24, 2020, as planned. We will return next year, when we hope you will join us on May 28-30, 2021.



We know this will be a disappointment to all of you, just as it is to us. This decision was made with the greatest reluctance; Anime North is a fan-run not-for-profit event, run by fans for fans, and we love it as much as you do. We had hoped that it would still be possible to hold a convention this year, but continuing developments regarding the covid-19 ("novel coronavirus") situation mean that we can no longer realistically expect to do so.





The governments of Canada, Ontario, and the City of Toronto have all recently put out statements recommending that large events be cancelled to prevent the spread of illness, as well as enacting other

measures that have an impact upon Anime North such as travel restrictions.



Government of Canada statement: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19.html

Government of Ontario statement: https://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus

City of Toronto statement: https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/



Although the currently announced measures do not last to the end of May, it appears quite likely that they will be extended or that even stronger restrictions may be implemented by the time of our planned convention dates. We must also bear in mind the health and wellbeing of our attendees during the current pandemic. Given the current situation and recommendations, it simply does not appear possible to hold a 35,000-odd person gathering two months from now and still minimize risk of exposure to infection. In addition, keeping all our attendees, staff, guests, and convention partners in a state of constant uncertainty about our plans is unfairly stressful in the circumstances.



We have considered the possibility of rescheduling the convention to later in the year, but due to the size and complexity of Anime North and the many participants and resources required to put it on, it isn’t feasible to do and still maintain the full Anime North experience. It would also make planning for the May 28-30, 2021 event more difficult.





WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ATTENDEES?

EVERYONE who has pre-registered for Anime North 2020 will be given the option of rolling their admission over for the 2021 event or receiving a full refund. Be assured no one will be charged for an event that does not happen.

If you have pre-registered with EventBrite, you will within the next week receive an email asking if you wish to transfer your admission to the 2021 convention (to be held on May 28-30, 2021, US Memorial Day weekend), or receive a full refund. The responses will be passed to EventBrite to be processed. This will take some small amount of time so please bear with us. There will be no need to directly contact convention registration, the email from EventBrite will be all you need to answer.

If we do not directly hear from a registered attendee, it will be assumed that they want a refund, and it will be processed as such.

We will be directly contacting other groups such as vendors, artists, and so on shortly about similar arrangements to either roll over to 2021 or receive a refund.



We have made our partner hotels aware of the situation. Room reservations can be cancelled by contacting the hotels directly. The Delta is planning on directly cancelling all rooms for the weekend automatically and sending a confirmation email regarding this to all who have booked. The hotels are likely to be overwhelmed for the first day or two, so please consider waiting a bit before cancelling, there is time to do so.

Regarding rooms for 2021, none of the hotels can yet take bookings that far in the future, and they cannot “roll-over” your reservations for next year. Reservations should open for 2021 some time this fall, attendees will be notified well in advance.





THANKS!

These last few weeks have been a trying time for everyone, and we would like to thank you for your patience and understanding while we have been working on the best course of action to maintain Anime North as the convention you know and love. This was not a decision that could be made quickly or lightly, and there will be those who will think we waited too long or didn’t wait long enough. But we are sure that it is the correct decision.

We would like to thank our attendees and our amazing volunteer staff, all of whom have helped make Anime North the success that it is, a celebration of the best of fan culture.

We are looking forward to an extraordinary return in 2021. See you there!