Portland’s got it rough right now, what with the economic downturn and their official status as the place where young people go to retire. Or as my friend George summarized after visiting the City of Roses for the first time last spring: “Everyone in Portland is unemployed, and the chief industry is face tattoos.” And now, on top of all that, their precious Leverage convention has been cancelled.

Now, I have never watched the TNT series Leverage, but apparently a lot of people have. Enough for there to be both official and unofficial conventions celebrating the show. Last year the first-ever Con-Con drew hundreds (!) of Leverage fans to Portland “for the unique opportunity to go behind the scenes of TNT’s hit caper series with the cast and creative minds behind the series at the show’s one and only official fan convention.” This year, wannabe grifters were all set to head to Portland’s Governor Hotel the first weekend of June for Q&As with cast and crew, autograph and photo sessions, and a banquet:

Cast members–including Academy Award® winner Timothy Hutton (Nathan Ford), Beth Riesgraf (Parker), Gina Bellman (Sophie Deveraux), Aldis Hodge (Alec Hardison) and Marc Sheppard (James Sterling)–are scheduled to attend. In addition, executive producer Dean Devlin (producer of Independence Day, The Patriot, and The Librarian trilogy) and creators/executive producers John Rogers (Transformers) and Chris Downey (The King of Queens), the creative minds behind the series, are set to be on hand to take part in the festivities.

But the dream is over now. Ticket sales were too low, so this year’s event has been cancelled. For Leverage fans, there’s always the promise of next year. And while you’re stuck watching Franklin and Bash ad after Franklin and Bash ad, the fourth season of Leverage is currently filming in Portland and will premiere on TNT Sunday, June 26th:

The fourth season of Leverage opens in epic fashion with “The Long Way Down Job” as the team heads to the rugged mountains of Alaska to help a woman whose husband has disappeared, possibly as a victim of foul play. More than any previous job, this one will push the Leverage team to the edge of endurance in one of the world’s harshest terrains, where a single wrong step could send them plunging into an almost certain death.