The Summer of Sonic is an event that brings together fans of Sonic the Hedgehog from all over the world. It is a concept that was created by the Sonic fanbase, out of a desire to set up a large meeting place for like-minded fans to chat and make friends. Its success has been so great that this fan-run project now gets official backing from SEGA Europe, and celebrities involved with the franchise are becoming aware of the convention.

2006: The Website

Svend ‘Dreadknux’ Joscelyne of The Sonic Stadium set up the very first Summer of Sonic event in 2006. Setting up a convention was unfeasible at the time, so the choice was made to set up a website celebrating Sonic’s 15th Anniversary, that acted as a portal for community members to contribute unique content. Over that Summer period, fansite webmasters wrote special articles, fangame creators made one-off projects, countless art pieces were submitted and interviews with Richard Jacques and Sonic Team were published.

Many Sonic fans asked for an annual Summer of Sonic website to occur in the same vein, but the manner of updating the website and administration meant that doing so would have been too much work. It would have also diminished the effect of celebrating the 15th Anniversary of SEGA’s mascot character.

2008: The Convention

Over the course of the next year, Svend began to seriously consider launching a real-life convention for Sonic the Hedgehog fans. This was borne out of the many casual meet ups that occurred between community members during 2007. After speaking to Kevin ‘ArchAngelUK’ Eva of the new idea, the decision was made to use the Summer of Sonic name as a ‘fan brand’ and throughout 2008, a small group of dedicated fans pooled money and resources to stage the world’s first Sonic the Hedgehog Convention.

When the Summer of Sonic Convention 2008 took place in Covent Garden’s Dragon Hall Trust, Kevin had long begun working for SEGA Europe as Community Manager. This, combined with Svend’s relationship with the publisher, resulted in an unofficial backing that allowed Sonic Chronicles to be played ahead of its UK release.

The Guinness Book of World Records: Gamers Edition featured in the event and held a World Record attempt for the fastest time in Sonic the Hedgehog 2′s Emerald Hill Zone, Act 1. World reknowned composer Richard Jacques performed live in front of a captivated audience alongside TJ Davis (D:Ream, Sonic R) and Bentley Jones (Remix Factory, Dreams of an Absolution), and comic cult favourite Nigel Kitching attended to sign comics and meet with fans of Sonic the Comic.

A raffle took place for the chance to win some sought-after Sonic merchandise – using the proceeds from this, we donated £75 to the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.