With a bit of trepidation, I went to the fest today. It seemed to be the same as usual. Parking was a pain as always. Today, I only saw 3 people wearing masks. All were dealers. I only noted 2 coughs while I was there. I did note that people were definitely washing their hands longer than usual in the restroom. I was not the only one hogging a sink while others waited. People still offered a handshake. I responded with don't even think about it. I only saw one canceled panel, that could have been for any number of reasons.
For the most part, it was the fest as usual. Once again, it's the casual intimacy of this con that I love. Some authors that you would have to fight to get into a panel to see at comic-con, are just there at the fest. Some of them sit as part of the audience for panels that they aren't in. They just aren't panelists, they are attendees. At comic-con they would get asked for autographs, at the fest they are just another person. It's funny how quickly they go from celebrity author to just another dude in my mind.