Downtown San Diego was still bustling with Comic-Con activity on Monday.Now the massive pop-culture convention is over. What went up must come down. Crews were tearing down building wraps, dismantling activations and packing up props.“We had tons of fun,” Cindy Valladres said. For her and her husband, Hadrian Valladares, Comic-Con and the Gaslamp Quarter lived up to expectations.“Going to Comic-Con and then coming down, grabbing lunch and dinner at all the restaurants here in Gaslamp and everything was great,” Cindy Valladres said.Restaurants and bars downtown were packed throughout the weekend and busier than in recent years, according to Michael Trimble, the executive director of the Gaslamp Quarter Association.“It’s been a real positive thing,” he said. “We’ve also seen a lot of more Hollywood A-list stars coming to Comic-Con this year, which we didn’t have last year, which increases the wow factor. And people want to come.”This year, the iconic Gaslamp sign over Fifth Avenue was temporarily transformed with branding for “Avengers: Doomsday.” Something Trimble said had never been done before. It was a collective effort between the city, the association and the film’s marketing agency, he said.“I think they want to do and give fan service to people coming down,” he said. “So there’s something that they won’t forget.”It was a memorable experience for David and Becky Ashcraft. “We saw the whole cast of ‘Super Troopers’ right down the street,” David Ashcraft said. “(They) were doing interviews out front of one of the activations.”They said they didn’t want to leave San Diego and return to Fort Worth, Texas.More than 135,000 people attended Comic-Con, bringing in an estimated $160 million to the local economy. More than $9 million of that was in downtown San Diego alone.“That’s pretty accurate,” Trimble said. “You know, it’s hard to put a number on it this early.”Although Comic-Con is staying in San Diego through 2030, he said the association will take a few months to regroup before beginning preparations for next year’s convention.But the Ashcrafts have already made their own plans.“I look forward to coming back,” David Ashcraft said. “We’ll definitely be back next year,” Becky Ashcraft said.And they’ll be ready to spend more money at local businesses.
