RisuCon — Montgomery County’s very own Comic Con — filled the county fairgrounds in Gaithersburg with cosplayers, live action role-players, and more.
The Montgomery County Comic and Cosplay Club hosted the third annual event all day Saturday. According to the event website, organizers picked a common animal in Maryland to represent the convention. “Risu” means squirrel in Japanese.
“It’s so nice to see everybody dressed up and happy about being dressed up,” said Cady Jardine, who cosplayed as Reze from the Chainsaw Man series.
A Change of Venue
The convention moved to the fairgrounds this year after being held at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center last year.
“A lot of us are typically introverts, so cramming everybody in a conference hall gets kind of crazy,” said Brock, who cosplayed as Bartholomew Kuma from the One Piece series. “I like it at the fairgrounds.”
“It’s so nice to finally have something that’s not in D.C. for once,” said Elyse Acevedo, who won second place in a cosplay contest as Jinx from the League of Legends video game.
“I wasn’t expecting at all to win anything, because I saw all these other people and I was like, oh my gosh, everybody looks so amazing,” Acevedo said, “but having that win felt so good.”
2026 Date Set
The next RisuCon is already on the calendar for Sunday, Sept. 26, 2026.
