Peoria police determined a bomb threat was credible, explaining an explosive device was found near an ethanol plant.
The second day of Illinois Comic Con will go on with some changes after Day One was canceled amid an evacuation order and police investigation after a bomb was found in nearby.
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Organizers announced just before 1 p.m. on Saturday they made the decision to cancel Day One of Illinois Comic Con amid a then-ongoing search and investigation after a bomb was found near BioUrja Renewables, an ethanol plant roughly a mile and a half from where the event was scheduled to take place at the Joliet Civic Center.
Peoria police issued a notice around 7 p.m. on Friday urging anyone within a mile radius of the ethanol plant to evacuate amid their investigation that remained in place until around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The civic center was evacuated and all events scheduled there for Saturday were paused during the investigation, representatives of the center said on social media.
The uncertainty of the investigation’s timeline, combined with Friday’s nationwide ground stop that complicated travel for celebrity guests, led organizers of Illinois Comic Con to decide to cancel the event on Saturday.
Even after the decision to cancel Saturday was made, organizers said they remained in “wait and see” mode for whether Sunday would go on.
“Once we learned that the search is still ongoing, we made the decision to cancel Saturday. Sunday is still in limbo and will be determined once there are updates to the search. Guests, vendors, artists, and others are on site and are wanting to do the show, but we will only open if it is deemed 100% safe to do so,” organizers said in the cancelation announcement.
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Then, hours after Saturday’s cancellation was announced, organizers said the event was a “full go” for Sunday.
“Early wristband pick up will begin at 9:30 AM with the show floor opening at 10 AM. The show will close at 5 PM. We will post updates to the celebrity list, Q&A and panel schedule, and the photo op schedule in the coming hours. Please be patient as we work through this; we will be unavailable to answer most questions as we reconfigure this con into a single day event,” organizers said on social media.
The costume contest, originally planned for Saturday, will take place at an unknown time on Sunday and any single-day ticket can be used to gain entry to the event on Sunday, according to the post.
“Please come out and join us! There are plenty of vendors, artists, and celebs waiting to see you!!,” organizers said.
In the lead up to the cancelation announcement, Illinois Comic Con organizers shared several updates on social media on Friday evening and Saturday morning.
“Some of the flights to get celebrities to Peoria are still being worked out. The entire country was grounded, and flights are currently a mess due to all the delays. We have guests and their representatives who flew into Chicago and have been on the road all day to make it. Some guests are still at their hometown airport trying to get on the first possible plane to Peoria,” organizers said on Friday evening.
Then, around 6:45 a.m. on Saturday, organizers expressed hope that the event would only be delayed by the bomb investigation, and provided a list of the several celebrities, including Rob Paulsen, Alex McKenna, Grey Delisle, Omri Katz, Ron Perlman, Nakia Burrise, Randy Blythe, Rob Van Dam, Jeremy Clark and Emilio Rivera, would all not make the event because of travel complications.
Hours later, organizers announced the event would not open at the previously scheduled 9 a.m. start.
“As this is an unprecedented occurrence, we are working slowly to make sure all bases are covered. We are awaiting further word from the local authorities and the Civic Center,” organizers said in one of their final posts before announcing the cancellation.
Details on refunds and transferring of Saturday tickets and photo ops can be found in the social media post below.
