THE BEGINNING - 2006

The first Anime St. Louis Convention was held on the campus of Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri by the Maryville Anime Club (MAC). Both the convention and the anime club were founded by Alisha Bingham, a student in the Communications program at Maryville University. The first Anime St. Louis convention was completely staffed by Maryville students and faculty with the exception Kate Flannery and Charita Bingham. Originally Alisha had planned to name the anime convention "Mini-Con," because the anime convention would only last one day, but first and only guest of the 2006 Anime St. Louis Convention, Michael "Piano Squall" Gluck, suggested the title "Anime St. Louis" to recognize the anime convention's existence as the first and only anime convention in St. Louis, Missouri. The Anime St. Louis Convention was intended to continue as an annual one-day event on Maryville University's campus, but when the Show Me Con staff approached Anime St. Louis with a proposal to merge their science fiction convention with the Anime StL, the staff took the opportunity to expand Anime St. Louis and take it off campus to the Maryville Marriott Hotel.

SHOW ME CON - 2007

In the second year, The Anime St. Louis Convention partnered with both the Show Me Con and Webster University Anime Society to host a larger convention with guests, including Vic Mignogna, Chris Patton, Piano Squall, and Steve Bennett. Anime St. Louis. A number of events were popularized in 2007, becoming staples for future years. Over 1100 fans were in attendance.

ON OUR OWN - 2008

The third year of Anime St. Louis was its first as a stand-alone three-day convention. Over 1400 people packed into the Holiday Inn Viking to enjoy old favorites such as Whose Line Is It Anime, the Masquerade, and the ever-popular Date Auction. Attendees also enjoyed a splendid array of panels, concerts, dances and Anime Family Feud. Guests included artists Steve Bennett, Mike Cole, and Jon Klement; musical group the Spoony Bards; and voice actors Jimmy Taylor, and Johnny Yong Bosch (of Power Ranger and Trigun fame).

2009 - Another Learning Year

Year four of Anime St. Louis began rough when a small number of staff members quit, unwilling to cooperate with founder Alisha Bingham and other dedicated staff members. Shortly after, Alisha relinquished her position as con-chair to concentrate on her degree. Anime St. Louis was left the capable hands of Nick Frank, who led the reshuffled staff through the unstable period. As the convention date draws nearer, the staff of Anime St. Louis are learning more and more from each other and the community as a whole how to improve on the convention. Now the question remains: How will Anime St. Louis make history this year?