Otafest

Otafest is an annual anime convention held in May (and previously September, mid-June, or early July), at the Calgary Telus Convention Centre, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The first Otafest was held 1999 and has expanded each year, including a move in 2009 to include a mini-convention called Otafest Lite, which was replaced in 2012 with Otafest Aurora. At the closing ceremonies in 2015, it was announced that Otafest would be moving to the Calgary Telus Convention Centre from the University of Calgary for Otafest 2016 with a new date, July 1–3, however the event dates returned to May after Otafest 2017. As of May 2015, it is the largest anime convention in Western Canada. Otafest is a fully volunteer-run non-profit, and has raised over $125,000 CAD for charitable initiatives since its inception.

Mandate
Otafest is a Calgary-based nonprofit organization expressing the values of charity, quality, and transparency. The body of their activity pertains to the promotion of Japanese art, culture, and media in the Canadian community, and the organization rests firmly on the spirit of community collaboration and volunteerism.

History
Otafest was scheduled to occur May 15–17, 2020 but was postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.