When a ‘Vampire Diaries’ convention canceled, Covington stepped up

Lizzy Morgan loves “The Vampire Diaries.” The supernatural television show helped her through postpartum depression and has remained a constant in her life for years.

It’s one reason why she relocated this year from South Carolina to Covington, where the show filmed for just under a decade.

So she considered forking over $2,000 to attend an annual “Vampire Diaries” convention held in Covington money well spent. But when convention organizer Epic Events and Entertainment recently canceled the Nov. 7-9 convention without warning, Morgan was irate. It wasn’t just because she was out money — she couldn’t meet and thank many of the cast members who helped her through tough times.

“We’re all hurt,” Morgan said. “It hurts.”

Epic filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation on Aug. 5, listing debts between $1 million and $10 million from more than 1,000 creditors.

Epic’s unexpected announcement shocked attendees, vendors and business leaders in Covington. Fans of the show, some of whom were planning to fly from other countries, were out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. The company encouraged attendees to direct questions to a refund email but never expressly said it would refund the tickets. Some fans, including Morgan, were able to request refunds through PayPal or the companies through which they booked their travel.

Epic did not respond to a request for comment.

But in a plot twist, Covington is trying to keep the show going. The city, which has welcomed thousands of tourists seeking out the fictional town of Mystic Falls over the last decade, is encouraging fans who bought tickets to visit during that weekend. City leaders, business owners and residents like Morgan are putting together their own events, screenings and meet and greets for what they’re calling a “fan appreciation weekend.”

The weekend won’t provide a financial gain for the city, but it will help fans who are out their money, said Angi Henderson, a Covington native who runs a “Vampire Diaries”-inspired restaurant, Mystic Grill, in the downtown square. Henderson also runs a gift shop and tour experience, Mystic Mercantile.

Spend any time in Covington, and you’re bound to hear someone name a movie or television series filmed there, from “My Cousin Vinny” to “In the Heat of the Night.” But “The Vampire Diaries” is synonymous with the town.

The television show, which follows a teenage girl who becomes entangled with two vampire brothers, first set up shop in Covington in 2008, where it would run for eight seasons through 2017. Starring Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, it was a major hit, drawing massive audiences when it aired on traditional television.

It also spawned two spinoffs: “The Originals,” which ended in 2017, and “Legacies,” which ended in 2022. “The Vampire Diaries” enjoyed a second life when Netflix added the show during the early days of the pandemic.

Covington locales were featured prominently on the show, which became a huge draw for tourism. The Mystic Grill, which is the characters’ main hangout, occupied law offices in the town square. In 2014, Henderson opened a real restaurant modeled after the one in the show after the law offices were damaged in a fire.

“The Vampire Diaries” helped invigorate the city’s economy, said Ken Malcolm, Covington’s community development director. More than a dozen retailers and restaurants opened up on the town square after Mystic Grill.

“I deeply appreciate what (‘The Vampire Diaries’) has done,” Malcolm said. “I’ve had a chance to talk to the actors on the show. I’ve said, ‘You don’t realize what you’ve done for this town, what this show did for this town, what it did for tourism, what it did for economic growth.’”

Tourists from all over the globe flock to Covington for the show alone. Jamie Cook, who leads tours at the Mystic Mercantile’s replica of the Salvatore brothers’ living room, said she toured a family from Germany and another from Liverpool in early August. She and her colleagues lead tours that have up to 10 people in them every hour, every day. The town square sees about 650,000 unique visitors each year, Malcolm said, citing Placer.ai data. These visitors are usually spending money at shops, restaurants and hotels.

Based out of South Carolina, Epic began hosting “Vampire Diaries” events in the Covington area in 2021. It was the only convention company to do so in the city, though its competitor, Creation Entertainment, held similar events in other states. It had a cordial relationship with the city.

Like most fan-related conventions, attendees of Epic’s events must pay the price of admission and then additional fees for meet and greets, photo opportunities, concerts or other activities. Tickets for the November convention, called “I Was Feeling Spooky,” ran about $350, which doesn’t account for the cost of hotels, travel or food. Vendors must also pay to reserve a spot.

Morgan wasn’t surprised when the event collapsed. She had already begun to notice red flags. Epic stopped announcing guests, and they changed the venue from the convention center in Covington to a horse park in Conyers.

To make the convention’s original November dates, the event organizers are having to work fast, Henderson said.

A few of the merchants in the square, such as Henderson and Jessica Lowery, who runs tour company Vampire Stalkers/Mystic Falls Tours, have connections to the actors or their agents, so they started calling them up and explaining what happened. Some of them understood and agreed to come without their usual guaranteed contract amount for appearances — they’ll just take whatever they make on the earnings from meet and greets or autographs.

The city itself can’t allocate a lot of money to the event because it has already budgeted for the year, but they’re offering up some of the venues they own for free, such as Legion Field or Baker Field, Henderson said.

Guests and other events will be announced in the weeks leading up to the weekend. Already confirmed are Matthew Davis, who plays the character of Alaric Saltzman; Chris Brochu, who plays Luke Parker; and Penelope Mitchell, who plays his twin, Liv Parker. Zach Roerig, who plays Matt Donovan, was also confirmed.

There are already discussions about turning the fan appreciation weekend into an annual event, Henderson said. Another could be on the horizon. Weeks after Epic canceled its “Spooky” event, Creation Entertainment announced it was coming in March.

Creation’s involvement gives Morgan a sense of security. The company has been around since 1971 and has organized more than 2,000 fan conventions for “Star Trek,” “Twilight” and other franchises.