A humming buzz from the excited participants is all you could hear as you enter the Bunka Hashi Festival at Exhibition Park last weekend.

The convention featured many local artists, video game developers and an appearance from the Lethbridge College Virtual and Augmented Reality Certificate program.

Though it ended up as an anime festival, the original plan was to host an e-sports event but Donna Sato, the festival’s president, discovered it wouldn’t be feasible.

“The more we planned, the more we heard from people, ‘basically don’t do it’,” said Sato.

The event was a success, with dozens of people making their way through the South Pavilion throughout the day.

Bunka Hashi hosted several panels throughout the day, including how to make a living as a manga artist in Alberta and a panel on cosplay.

Sawa Japanese House made an appearance, offering up several of their menu items to hungry cosplayers and attendants.

Miranda Hubbard assisted in the planning of the event, including the change from e-sports to anime.

“Donna decided it would be cool to change it to anime, because we’re all kind of anime nerds,” said Hubbard.

Bunka Hashi isn’t the first convention of its kind to come to Lethbridge, nor will it likely be its last.

The Lethbridge Comic, Pop Culture and Cosplay Expo, a similar event, is happening on Sept. 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Exhibition Park.