There are many types of anime conventions. In this particular case, we’re at one run by the mass transit body of the Bay Area Rapid Transit ( BART). This is the Let’s Glow BART Anime Festival.
Much like how government and commercial entities in Japan create anime mascots to represent themselves, BART created their own group of four mascots (who’s merch would appear across a few conventions). From there a convention of their own formed in 2025. They return again this year, even bigger. As a free event, this took place at a Bart station itself in Fremont.
The event was primarily made of merch tables, itasha cars, and three small stages. The tables act as the majority of the content, with the artist alley being the biggest area in total. With a few scatterings of tables for other conventions, and a very large booth for BART merch itself (it had a very long line that stretched from one end of the event to the other).
The stages present were the main stage (which primarily played music from DJs), the Neon Stage (which held the cosplay contest and presentation), and Concert stage (which had live band performances).
When it comes to more interactive content, it was sparse but still present. Such as the trinket trade station (a little table where attendees could leave and take small items), a stamp rally, and the manga mobile (a vehicle with books inside, and chairs next to the vehicle where you could sit and read).
All in all, this was quick event that was mostly for hanging out with people. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering it was only five hours long , free , and was based around the ease of transportation via the BART system. Unlike Fanime or Anime Los Angeles, this was more so an excuse to spend the day outside and a form of outreach for BART. Let see where BART takes us in future iterations of this event.
