Anime conventions have always operated on their own frequency, but Parkon 2026 managed to clear a new bar.
Over Memorial Day weekend in San Jose, California, cosplay models set up unofficial stands outside FanimeCon selling what they were openly marketing as “feet juice” — fruit juice prepared in plastic buckets where they’d been soaking their bare feet. The going rate was $10 to $15 a cup. It sold out in under an hour.
Parkon is a separate, unofficial outdoor event that runs alongside FanimeCon, where essentially anyone can show up and do whatever they want. The feet juice operation was not sanctioned by FanimeCon. It also didn’t need to be, because the demand was apparently there regardless.
People Lined Up to Buy ‘Feet Juice’ From Cosplayers at an Anime Convention
Photos and videos spread quickly. One cosplayer dressed as Hatsune Miku was filmed standing in a bucket of juice while handing cups to a line of paying customers. Some vendors offered to let customers drink juice dripping directly from their feet. People eagerly accepted. Drinking juice dripping from a bare foot, in public, in broad daylight, and paying for it.
The internet had predictable feelings. Many called it the lowest form of marketing, which doesn’t quite hold up against the data. The product sold out. Demand exceeded supply. By any conventional measure of a successful vending operation, feet juice performed.
What actually happened here is pretty much on par for 2026: parasocial culture, creator-economy logic, and the long-established tradition of selling anything to a captive audience at a fan convention combined to produce an entirely predictable outcome. Someone was willing to pay $15 for juice a person they find attractive had been standing in. That’s a transaction between consenting adults at an unofficial outdoor event. Strange, sure, but conventions have always been a place where normal rules don’t really apply.
For what it’s worth, nobody involved seemed to have any complaints. The sellers made money, the buyers got what they came for, and the internet got a story. Technically, everyone won.
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