Start your day with the news you need from the Bay Area and beyond.

Sign up for our new Morning Report weekday newsletter.

A popular unofficial Disneyland event that annually attracts thousands of devotees of the Goth lifestyle will be scaled back and most elements eliminated after Sunday’s final event, its founder says.

“Bats Day” began 20 years ago as a simple meetup at Disneyland park of like-minded Goth fans, but grew in spooky popularity over the decades to include a full-fledged convention, with hotel lodging, private dinner, concert, gala, marketplace and photos on the steps of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.

By organizer estimates, 7,000 people attended last year, including hard-core Goths and also people who just liked the quirky fashion. Disneyland doesn’t officially sanction private social clubs in the park, but neither does it ban them in most cases. Bats Day was one of the earliest fan meetups, attracting people who like death rock, Steampunk and dark genres of music and dress.

“We just can’t afford to do it anymore,” event founder Noah Korda, said. “The tax laws have changed.”

Korda, 47, a designer from Van Nuys, canceled all the elements of this year’s weekend, except for a Bats Day meetup at the park on Sunday, May 6 and a 7 p.m. “The Final Wake” on Saturday at the Hyatt Regency Orange County for those who want to say goodbye.

“We do this out of the kindness of our hearts,” Korda said about the annual event. “Any money we make gets rolled into the next year.”

Former Bats Day sponsor David Markland, promoter of the Midsummer Scream Halloween-themed event in Long Beach in July, said he’s “in denial” about the annual marketplace being canceled, but he understands as a promoter himself why it might not be feasible to operate it anymore.

“It’s a lot of work to put these things on,” Markland said. “Even though he said it’s the last one, I hope something can come in and take its place.”

Disneyland officials declined to comment, saying they were not involved with the event.

Saturday night’s “wake” at the Hyatt is open to all, Korda said. It’s free with a no-host bar. Sunday’s meetup will include a scaled-down group photo by the Sleeping Beauty Castle at 5 p.m. He said he plans to stage Bats Day in the future as a simple once-a-year meetup, so Goths can still get together. Meanwhile, those who are so inclined can meet Saturday night to mourn.

“The wake is a small get-together that’s free and for all ages,” Korda said. “I felt it was my responsibility to have it.”

Learn more: batsday.net