Dragon Con parade to be televised on the CW for first time

August 31, 2013 Atlanta - Dressed as Gollum, Peter Vander marches in the annual DragonCon parade through downtown Atlanta on Saturday, August 31, 2013. This year 57,000 people were expected to attend the five day long event which is in its 27th year. JONATHAN PHILLIPS / SPECIAL

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

August 31, 2013 Atlanta - Dressed as Gollum, Peter Vander marches in the annual DragonCon parade through downtown Atlanta on Saturday, August 31, 2013. This year 57,000 people were expected to attend the five day long event which is in its 27th year. JONATHAN PHILLIPS / SPECIAL

By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, August 8, 2016

The popular Dragon Con parade will be televised for the first time this year.

The parade, which draws thousands of costumed superheroes, sci-fi villains and cosplay characters onto the streets of Peacthree downtown, will be aired live on the CW starting at 10 a.m. September 3. The telecast will be rebroadcast that night at 8.

Organizers say the parade draws about 80,000 visitors. It's free to the public and tens of thousands of photos and videos are taken and posted during the hour-long event.

The CW is a natural partner. The network airs sci-fi and fantasy oriented shows such as "Arrow," "iZombie," "The 100," "Supernatural," "The Originals," "Vampire Diaries," "Legends of Tomorrow" and "Flash." This fall, it also adds "Supergirl," which was on CBS its first season.

Main cast members from "Flash," "Legends of Tomorrow," "iZombie" and "The 100" are scheduled to appear at this year’s convention.

Dragon Con is always visually loaded. It can be monotonous though - with most of the photos being a rolodex parade of portraits. I liked this little fan interacting with Spiderman. She was genuinely thrilled to pose for her Mother to get a photo of her with Spidy. LEDE PHOTO - September 4, 2015 Atlanta: Terrance Ferguson (Spiderman) from Auburn, Alabama attending his third Dragon Con in Atlanta posed for a picture with Sofia Zamora-5 from Miami whose parents, Sara and Raff Zamora (not pictured) were photographing the pair on Peachtree Street downtown on Friday, Sept. 4, 2015. The four-day Dragon Con sci-fi, fantasy and comic book festival started Friday, taking over several downtown hotels. One of the highlights of the event is the 14th annual Dragon Con Parade, which marches down Peachtree Street beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday. Peter Mayhew, the 7-foot-2 actor who portrays Han Solo's furry co-pilot, Chewbacca in Star Wars will appear at Dragon Con this year. Channel 2 meteorologist Karen Minton said. "It's cloudy, drizzly, rainy all the way through our holiday weekend," she said. Minton put Atlanta's rain chance 60 percent Saturday and 40 percent Sunday and Monday. Highs will be in the low 80s Saturday and Sunday and mid-80s Monday. Overnight lows will be in the upper 60s to low 70s through the same period. JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM

Credit: Rodney Ho

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Credit: Rodney Ho