I’m so pleased to announce that that this year’s ITHACON was another rousing success. It’s a unique convention. Bill Turner, Carmelo Merlo and the Comic Book Club of Ithaca have been running this one for 49 years. Next year will be a big one!

In my day job, as a professor at Ithaca College’s School of Business, I teach the Promoting and Managing ITHACON Class. The students learn about trade shows and work hard to actually run the convention.

Every year we embrace this annual tradition, writing about fandom, conventions, or their experience with the With Further Ado column. Each spring, I ask the students to submit a column on pop culture as if they were the author of this space. Our crack editorial staff pours over the submissions and selects a winner, and they get published on the Pop Culture Squad website.

Anyway, we have several amazing columns to publish this year.

Our third runner-up winner of this year’s fill-in columnist contest is Tessa Dill. She’s written a fantastic essay on Hannah Montana. Of note, she was part of our crack Registration Team at the convention this year. Congrats and thanks for all the hard work managing ITHACON this spring, Tessa.

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The Hannah Montana Craze: Twenty Years Later
by Tessa Dill

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hannah Montana, which is crazy for someone who grew up watching Disney Channel in the late 2000s. The era of sparkly jackets, catchy theme songs, and a blonde wig disguise is now officially old enough to be nostalgic.

On March 24th, the 20th anniversary special of Hannah Montana aired on Disney+ and Hulu. It felt nostalgic going back to the show I grew up watching as a big fan. As I’m about to graduate from college and move on with life, reflecting on childhood and growing up, the childhood memories keep playing in my head.

If you were like me when the show first aired in 2006, you probably remember that Hannah Montana wasn’t just another Disney Channel show. It was a full-on cultural moment. I don’t remember the exact first time I watched it, but I do remember how suddenly it seemed like everyone knew what it was.

Looking back now, the central premise of the show is kind of hilarious. Miley Stewart is a normal teenage girl who secretly lives a second life as Hannah Montana, a massively famous pop star. The only thing separating those two identities is a blonde wig.

The show tapped directly into a childhood fantasy that felt incredibly relatable at the time. Miley Stewart still had homework, annoying family members, and awkward moments at school. The difference was that after dealing with normal teenage life, she could step onto a stage as Hannah Montana and perform for thousands of fans.

For kids, including me, watching Disney Channel after school, that idea was captivating. That fantasy helped turn Hannah Montana into something bigger. The show quickly expanded into music, merchandise, and concerts, creating an entire pop culture universe. There were Hannah Montana CDs, backpacks, clothing, posters, and enough merchandise to fill entire store sections. My bedding was Hannah Montana-themed, and my room was decorated with Hannah Montana items.

The songs were also a huge part of the experience. “Best of Both Worlds,” “Nobody’s Perfect,” and several others became songs that almost everyone from that generation can recognize immediately.

The 2007 Best of Both Worlds Tour became one of the biggest moments of the entire Hannah Montana craze. Tickets sold out almost instantly, resale prices skyrocketed, and suddenly seeing Hannah Montana live felt like the hottest ticket imaginable. Disney even released a 3-D concert movie, so fans who couldn’t get tickets could still experience the show.

Looking back, it’s kind of incredible that a Disney Channel character created that level of excitement. But Hannah Montana also existed during a very specific moment in media history. This was before streaming services completely changed how people watch television. When a new episode aired on Disney Channel, everyone watched it. The next day, the kids talked about it at school. The songs spread through iPods and radio instead of algorithms.
It created a shared cultural experience in a way that feels a little rarer now.

It’s fascinating revisiting the show twenty years later on how the story’s themes ended up echoing Miley Cyrus’s real career. Years later, Miley Cyrus would go through her own very public transition away from the Disney image that made her famous. Suddenly, the show’s ideas about identity and performance felt less like sitcom plots and more like something real.

The biggest reason the show still sticks with people is simpler than that.

For a lot of us, Hannah Montana was just part of growing up. It was something you watched after school, talked about with friends, and sang along without thinking too much about it. It was part of that Disney Channel era when shows felt like shared childhood experiences rather than just content.
Which might actually be the real “best of both worlds”: a show that defined a childhood moment and still feels fun to look back on two decades later.