For more than a decade, L.I. Who brought cosplayers, creators and generations of Whovians together on Long Island. This year, from Aug. 14 through 16, the convention did it again, gathering fans for its final full weekend before going on hiatus.
Despite knowing that there would be no full L.I. Who convention in 2027, the weekend itself felt surprisingly familiar. The crowd felt about as expected, fans moved between panels and guest appearances, vendors filled their spaces and longtime attendees caught up with people they had seen at the convention year after year.
The difficult road to one more Who
Showrunner Ken Deep announced before the convention that L.I. Who would go on hiatus after 2026, deliberately stopping short of calling it the end.
As SciFiSland.com previously reported, Deep said convention economics had become increasingly difficult. Advance ticket sales for 2026 were the slowest in L.I. Who history, while airfare and other costs associated with bringing guests to Long Island continued to rise. The convention had also seen a significant decline in Canadian attendance, which Deep connected to both economic pressures and reluctance among some international fans to travel to the United States for political reasons.
Doctor Who itself is also going through another uncertain period, creating an additional challenge for a convention built almost entirely around one television universe. After the final day of L.I. Who 2026, Deep offered a candid assessment of what it had taken to put the convention together.
“Behind the scenes, it has been the most challenging convention I’ve ever been involved in organizing,” Deep wrote in an Aug. 16 message to attendees. “Prices have gone up in ways no one could have predicted.”
But Deep’s post-convention message focused just as much on what L.I. Who had created over the years.
“The most satisfying result of this annual event has been the friendships that were made over the years,” he wrote.
When the convention became a reunion
L.I. Who never tried to compete with massive pop culture conventions on size. Its distinction was its intimacy and recurring community, with many of the same fans returning year after year.
Jodie Fox captured that shift in a Facebook comment after the hiatus was announced.
“After a while, it became less about seeing who was appearing as guests and more about seeing my friends but it still holds such a special place in my heart,” Fox wrote.
JodySue Harkavy described the convention as a place where she found friendship and acceptance.
“I cannot stress how much your convention has come to mean to me. It is truly my home,” Harkavy wrote. “I’ve made friendships that will last a lifetime and an acceptance i never thought I would find.”
Shaun Lyon of fellow Doctor Who convention Gallifrey One also praised Deep and the atmosphere created by L.I. Who.
“My friend Ken Deep who runs LI Who is one of the most stand-up guys in Doctor Who fandom, and he has done an incredible job running such a great event for fans on Long Island and beyond,” Lyon wrote. “Shows come and go, but conventions run with such love for the fan community are few and far between. We will all miss it.”
Those comments help explain why news of the hiatus hit some fans much harder than the temporary loss of another annual event.
One L.I. Who meeting changed two lives
For Christina Nicholls, L.I. Who became the setting for something even more lasting. She met the person who would become her spouse at the convention in 2023.
“Having made countless friends and met the love of my life, Keir in 2023 at LI Who, I can safely say it has been one of the most important conventions of my life,” Nicholls wrote. “We weren’t going to be able make it this year but knowing this, we’re immediately setting up to sell off whatever we can to make it happen.”
A convention can tally tickets sold, guests booked and panels filled, but stories like Nicholls’ reveal a different kind of legacy. L.I. Who created a recurring place where people with a shared interest could meet, reconnect and build relationships that continued long after everyone went home.
First Who, last Who
Much of the nostalgia surrounding L.I. Who appeared after the convention rather than during it. In the week or so following the gathering, members of the L.I. Who Fans Facebook group began spontaneously sharing “first Who, last Who” photos. Fans paired pictures from their earliest visits to the convention with images from 2026, turning the group into a scrapbook of L.I. Who’s history.
Some posts showed years of cosplay evolution. Others documented friendships and familiar faces that had become part of the annual convention experience. The posts also showed just how much time had passed since some fans first walked into L.I. Who and how much of their own lives had happened alongside the convention.
Before the 2026 gathering, fan Barbara Schafetz Viohl Orapello had suggested that attendees take as many photos together as possible because it could be some time before many of them were gathered in the same place again.
“For those of you that don’t know me, and even if you do, please come say hello to me when you see me next month,” she wrote. “I’d love to meet new friends as well as see my long time friends again.”
The convention itself may have felt familiar, but the “first Who, last Who” posts that followed gave fans a chance to look back at what L.I. Who had become over more than a decade.
A hiatus, not an ending
Deep has consistently described the decision as a hiatus and said he hopes there will eventually be a time when the full convention can return. He also plans to remain involved with the Doctor Who fan community.
“Hopefully there will be a time in the future for the full convention to return,” Deep wrote after the show. “In the meantime, we will continue to be involved in the Doctor Who fan community.”
He also thanked attendees, volunteers and supporters for helping sustain L.I. Who over the years.
“Thanks for helping create a wonderful community,” Deep wrote. “Thanks for being part of something special.”
His message ended by leaving L.I. Who’s future deliberately open.
“Just like the Tardis, who knows where we will land,” he said. “Who knows.”
Deep then borrowed a line from the First Doctor that perhaps best summed up the convention’s current status.
“What did you say, my boy? It’s all over? That’s what you said… but it isn’t at all. It’s far from being all over.”
For now, L.I. Who leaves behind more than a decade of guests, panels, cosplay and Doctor Who fandom on Long Island, along with the friendships and relationships that became such an important part of the annual gathering.
So long, and thanks for all the Who.
