The Real Superheroes Arrive After Comic-Con

Comic-Con International, the pop-culture festival which returned to San Diego this year after a two-year pandemic-related hiatus, recently wrapped up its four-day event. Gone are the comic-book artists, the superhero actors, and their adoring cosplaying fans.

But just because the participants went home doesn’t mean the event was quite over—because, according to an article by local San Diego news station KPBS, 46,000 pounds of garbage were left behind.

More than 100 workers from the Downtown San Diego Partnership Clean & Safe Program were assigned to the cleanup, which included pulling marketing signage off buildings and power spraying streets and windows, as well as removing all that trash.

Miraculously, while the event had just ended at 5 p.m. on Sunday, workers were already finalizing their spot cleaning the very next day, in preparation for the next event to come.

“Right now, we’re just making sure we got a little bit of graffiti,” Alonso Vivas, executive director of the Clean & Safe Program said as they were finishing up on Monday.

Of course, this cleaning crew is not alone. According to Writer’s Block Live, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) reports that about 13,000 trade shows occur in the United States annually—and all the events require cleanup, with some more than others. Imagine, for instance, what cleanup must be like for crews after an event such as World Dairy Expo, which is held annually in Madison, Wisconsin, and has had more than 2,000 dairy cows in attendance.

Obviously, as the saying goes, not all superheroes wear capes.