So this event I applied to in December 2023 and got accepted in January 2024. I was not aware at the time this was a second year event even until I got there the weekend of. Frankly, it didn't matter. This event felt so professional I never would have guessed it was only a second year event.
They charge you upon being accepted. I also didn't realize until I arrived that I got an extra badge for some reason? I'll get to that later but just know the table usually comes with 2 badges and 2 chairs. Jennifer Sample of Dragon Child Graphics lived near this event and vended in 2023, so she volunteered to help me out for this event.
September was a fairly busy month for me so I prepped for this event expecting it to be about the same attendance as Madison Expo earlier in the month. I was wrong. I also forgot to get cash. Thankfully it didn't matter much, but it could have been a problem for sure.
Zecypher ended up getting off the waitlist last minute so they rode down with me for the event and shared the hotel with me to help me save a little on costs.
Before the Event & Setup
It was really easy to find the loading dock for the Iowa Events Center. I actually really liked this event center as a whole. Not sure that matters, but it was nice either way. The hours for load-in were also quite long so despite driving four hours from Minnesota to Iowa the same day as load-in, we were fine. We went straight to set up and checked into the hotel after. I will say you weren't supposed to spend a lot of time at load-in with your vehicle, which I definitely did and they eventually added my booth number to a ticket on my vehicle so I wouldn't get towed.
Once everything was unloaded into the building, I moved my rental vehicle across the street and paid for the parking at the meter. Think it was like maybe $2 or something for the amount of time I was there. You have to have an app to park which was a little annoying, but thankfully I already had it due to other events I'd sold at in Minnesota.
The hall was huge and mostly still empty when we arrived on Thursday. We saw later on Friday morning that all the guests were located in the center of the exhibit hall. Staff got things set up so quickly as well.
Artist Alley was directly to the left once you walked in from the loading dock. Was a pretty short walk compared to what some of the exhibitors had to cross to get to their locations. I really appreciate how comfy our artist alley room was.
I don't remember the size of the table but it felt like it was a 6 foot table. I will say the only concerning thing was the lack of space between the tables so we had to find either the middle walkway or go through the middle itself. The last event I was at was like this too but without the middle walkway so I am definitely starting to see a notable difference in events where there are a lot of vendors vs ones where the AA and vendor halls are smaller. I was also initially frustrated with my booth neighbor on my right as she had a giant banner that we had to move in order to get in and out through that space. In the end, it was more like a door and it was kind of nice to not have to think much about that side of my booth having anyone walk behind the table so easily, but it probably wouldn't have been allowed if a fire marshal had seen it. I have no idea what the rules are for those sorts of things.
I didn't have any issues setting up but I was having some personal issues that day, so I sort of checked out mentally during the load-in process to deal with that and only got my pin spinner set up. Thankfully my setup is pretty simple so it was easy to get finished Friday morning/afternoon before the event started.
On Friday, we actually had lunch with Jen at Miyabi 9 sushi. Needed to give her a badge for the weekend so she could show up whenever. They don't take card, only cash, so that caught me a bit off guard. Made for a good lunch before the event started at 2pm. They let us, vendors, park for free on Friday as well so that was very nice.
When we went for final setup on Friday, pretty much everything in the event hall was set up. Think maybe one or two signs still needed to be adjusted, but they were pretty ready to roll. It was also at that point we realized how many celebrities were actually going to be there. The middle area was all celebs mixed between video games, cartoons and movies and vendors were around the outside in the main room.
Also to do other things, you had to walk through the vendor room AND artist alley. So I will say they forced people to at least see some of the people selling things so that was a nice setup for the event center if you ask me. My booth was facing the tabletop area and concessions, so people were always walking by even if it wasn't specifically for me. I really don't know if this location was good or bad in the grand scheme of things, but I was near bathrooms which is always a big request of mine.
The Event Itself
From what I could tell there were no VIP hours like other events which was kind of refreshing in a way? Some shows made it hard to know what time we should actually show up. I will note that while this event was going on, there was some sort of Christ for Life or .. I don't even know event going on Saturday & Sunday. This made parking fairly interesting even though we showed up early each day regardless. Parking was $12 in the lot directly next to and across from the convention center. It was very easy to get from the parking lot to the convention center, but as a non-local, I had no idea where else we could even park if we didn't make it early enough. Apparently locals know but it seemed to be a guarded secret. 
I should have taken more photos, but the Galaxycon/Animate/Nightmare Weekend people really know how to make sure you know where you need to go. Signs were abundant and they were high and low. Everything from tall banners to digital displays were all over the place.
Friday was really slow despite the long lines we saw going inside before opening. I will like to note that if I went strictly off this as an indication of how good this event was going to be, I would have been in a panic. I made just over $200 on Friday despite the crowd being so good. A lot of people were window shopping and many did come back and purchase what they wanted Saturday or Sunday.
I also decided last minute to try and make some hand made price signs for my booth. I hit Target up for some highlighters and paper to make some silly nonsense. They were really fun to make quickly and I liked them a lot more than I thought I would. Not sure how anyone else felt, but hey - signs!
After the event closed we had to pick somewhere close that was open late. I want to note that Friday evening, I think a LOT of people were in line for some of the Nightmare Weekend happenings. From what we saw as we were leaving, the lines were massive! I took a picture from the top of the elevator as we were exiting from artist alley below. I have no idea what was going on, but I want to assume it was worth the wait.
We decided to go to Zombie Burger per Jen and my husband's recommendations. She connected us with some of the artists she knew so we got to hang out at a table with them. I didn't really talk to them, but it was nice either way!
Saturday was significantly better. We did have to fight the Jesus crowd for parking again. I don't recall if it was Saturday or Sunday I made a joke about getting free parking or not if I was with the other one vs the event I was at, but the parking attendant didn't find it funny. It was basically the bulk of my sales for the entire weekend. Jen brought a TON of people to my booth which helped a lot as well. She knows so many people! Some were friends of hers, some were other vendors, etc.
It was actually so busy until probably dinner time. It slowed down before the event closed for the evening, so we had time to decide where we were going to have dinner. One of the vendors who was local but not working the show suggested we go to Iowa Beef Steakhouse, so we did. Thanked him for the suggestion on Sunday when I saw him again. It was pretty decent and not as expensive as I was expecting. I still think Zombie Burger was my favorite choice for the whole weekend but I really like themed restaurants plus the shakes were amazing.
We only had the hotel until Sunday, so we checked out and headed to the event. Sunday felt slower than Saturday but not as slow as Friday. It was nice to talk to a lot of the vendors. So many were there from Minnesota! One of the Iowa ones wanted an Aussie so I ended up sketching one while I was unbusy. Maybe I'll pin it haha.
I ran out of corgi plush though which felt so nice. I hadn't done that since Momocon. I had even brought my pillow which was on display for preorder, but people were asking to buy it right then and there. Unfortunately, it was the only one I had and there was just no way I could sell the sample at that time.
I was able to browse and shop while the event was slowing down that evening. I also want to shout out to Jen for bringing so many people to my booth. She was absolutely a huge reason I did so well at all. I love her so much and she's such a stellar artist. I am thankful she was able to help me for the weekend. She also manned my booth every time I went to the bathroom and even was able to sell things to people without any issues! I hope she is able to vend next year!
They let us renew on Sunday for like $283.79 which was nice. It reminded me of how MadEx let us renew. I opted to renew for sure. I had a great time and Iowa really surprised me. The staff was fantastic and the event was well organized.
I want to note I didn't do any deal discounts for any products the entire weekend since I am running out of things so many events later. I don't know if I lost sales because of this or not, but I really just don't have enough items to last the rest of the year if I continue to discount everything for deals. Even though my pins are fairly expensive to produce as well, so this was not a decision I made lightly. I sold out of white vampire kitty pins and black witch kitty pins entirely by the this event was over. You would not believe how popular cat pins have been for me.
Other things to consider is placement in artist alley can make a difference. Zecypher's booth was located at the end of a row but directly next to a pillar and right by the kids area. I thought the location was good because it was at the end of an aisle, but was quickly proven wrong. People were also loitering nearby since it was the end of the row and near a pillar, making it so people sort of hung out and blocked the booth.
What Worked & What Did Not
Load in was organized and very easy. They emailed us several times to make sure we got the information no matter what. Convention workers also made sure to indicate where we could park and staff made sure we were reminded to move our vehicles after.
Parking felt scarce. I'm not familiar enough with Des Moines as a city to know where to park, but I am glad we got there early as vendors. I have no idea where anyone else parked.
Everything was clearly labeled. Literally everything. They even had neat digitals signs for both vendors and artists. There were several of these around the event halls. This was probably one of my favorite things to be honest.
Hours were a little too long on Friday I think. Someone else told me this is normal for events hosted by them, so I guess that's something to pay attention to. It did allow us to shop early as vendors though, so in a way it was both good and bad.
Some artists had mentioned they were upset that they paid for premium booths but ended up in the vendor area which nowhere near artist alley. The reason this wasn't great was the people who were going from celebrities to artist alley often bypassed their booths entirely. Maybe something to keep in mind if you care about your location.
Attendees were able to walk around the artist alley hall after hours since the tabletop area was still open. Despite this, we didn't hear of any theft but mentioning it since it was rather concerning.
Conclusion
Honestly, Iowa freaking showed up in force. I don't know what I expected but I had a really good time. The food downtown was great. Hours were a little long and could be shorter, but the celebrities they booked really brought people in from all over the US.
The Details (TLDR)
Event: Animate! & Nightmare Weekend Des Moines 2024
Dates: Sept 27-29, 2024
Location: Iowa Events Center, 730 3rd Street, Des Moines, IA 50309
Hours: Friday 2pm-8pm, Saturday 10am-8pm & Sunday 10am-6pm CST
Total Vendors: 175 vendors & 80 artists
Attendance: TBD, numbers were not ready yet when I asked
Travelworthy: I do believe this event is worth traveling for if you're in the surrounding midwest states.
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Booth Cost: $386.06
Total Sales: $1,788.70 (this is before all costs are taken out)
Transaction Fees: $35.16
Taxes: $111.17
Total Profit: $1,256.31