Westercon 70 (“ConAlope,” including LepreCon 43), the 2017 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference, has announced that they have added Henry Vanderbilt, founder of the Space Access Society, as Science Guest of Honor.
Westercon 70 will be Saturday, July 1 through Tuesday, July 4, 2017, at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel in Tempe, Arizona. For more information, including membership rates and hotel information, see the Westercon 70 web site.
Westercon 71, the 2018 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference, will be held at the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center, rather than the originally-announced venue, convention chair Nikki Ebright announced on May 31, 2017. The convention, to be held July 4-8, 2018, will be run in conjunction with Myths and Legends Con 6, as originally announced. This change was part of a reorganization that saw Shiny Garden, the non-profit parent organization of Myths and Legends, assume responsibility for running the 2018 Westercon after the group that originally won the right to host Westercon 71 dissolved. The Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center, recent venue of MileHiCon, proved to be more amenable to hosting an event that includes traditional Westercon hospitality and social activities, according to Ebright. In her announcement, Ebright also said that the Westercon 71 web site is being redesigned and will soon have revised information about the venue and convention.
These changes have no affect upon Westercon 70 in Tempe, Arizona, which will be July 1-4, 2017 at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel.
Westercon 70 (“ConAlope,” including LepreCon 43), the 2017 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference, has issued a press release that includes the announcement of two additional guests of honor. Bjo and John Trimble will be the convention Special Media Guests of Honor, sponsored by the United Federation of Phoenix.
Westercon 70 will be Saturday, July 1 through Tuesday, July 4, 2017, at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel in Tempe, Arizona. For more information, including membership rates and hotel information, see the Westercon 70 web site.
Westercon 70 in Tempe announced today that as of the April 15, 2017 filing deadline, one bid filed to host the 2019 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference. Utah for 2019 is a bid to host Westercon 72 at the Hilton Garden Inn and Davis Conference Center in Layton, Utah (approximately 25 mi/40 km north of downtown Salt Lake City) over the weekend of July 3rd – July 7th, 2019.
Members of Westercon 70 in Tempe will vote this summer to choose the site of Westercon 72. Westercon 70 will issue the site selection ballot soon. All attending and supporting members of Westercon 70 may vote in the site selection election.
No bids were filed to host the 2019 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference by January 1, 2017. Therefore, any site in North America west of the 104th west meridian (or in Hawaii) is now eligible to bid for Westercon 72.
To bid for a Westercon, a group must file bidding papers with Westercon 70 by April 15, 2017. A bid must consist of at least two people (Chair and Treasurer). Bidding papers must include an organizing instrument (bylaws, articles of incorporation, or similar documents), a letter of intent or contract from a facility and, for US sites, evidence that the bid is organized by a non-profit organization. Full details of bidding requirements are in section 3.5 of the Westercon Bylaws.
Submit bid filing papers to Westercon 70 by mail at this address:
Westercon 70
c/o Leprecon, Inc.
PO Box 26665
Tempe, AZ 85285
USA
The Westercon Business Page has been updated with the minutes of the Westercon 69 Business Meeting, the video of the meeting, and the Westercon Bylaws as of the end of Westercon 69. There was one change to the Bylaws: the quorum (minimum number of members necessary to hold the Business Meeting) was reduced from 15 members to 10 members present.
It was the best of times, it was... the best of times. 1,673 members, with 1,577 actually showing up for the biggest Westercon in 20 years. With Westerconpairing up with GEAR Con for the weekend, there were many new things to explore for most long-time Westercon attendees. The Tesla Coil crackled in a very satisfying and exciting fashion. The Masquerade had amazing cosplay. And the Monday event, watching the Juno spacecraft successfully achieve polar orbit around Jupiter, with commentary from Bobak Ferdowsi, was nearly standing room three hours after the convention "officially" ended. And of course, Bobak passed a jar of peanuts around the room because it is a NASA tradition to shell and eat peanuts to celebrate the success of the mission. It was great fun.
The Art Show and Masquerade award winners are listed on their individual pages. Look for the names of those people. If you don't know them now, chances are that you will in the future. They were all that good.
Thank you to everyone who came, everyone who presented, everyone who enjoyed the weekend with us. We had a great time. :)
The bid for Westminster, Colorado (Denver Area) was selected to host the 2018 Westercon by the members of Westercon 69 in Portland, Oregon. Westercon 71 will be at the Westin Westminster on July 4-8, 2018. Their guests of honor are:
For more information about Westercon 71, see the convention’s web site at http://www.westercon71.org/
If you are still looking for a room, email our Hotel Liaison and we will attempt to get you a con-rate room at the Courtyard Marriott. Marriott rooms are subject to availability, however. All direct reservations with the hotels are now closed for all of our room blocks.
We still have rooms available at the Overflow Hotels and the Courtyard Marriott offers a free shuttle that can take you to the convention. More information can be found on the Hotel page.
The hotel room block for the Portland DoubleTree is closed for reservations. If for whatever reason you need to cancel a reservation at the Doubletree, please contact hotel@westercon69.org. Please do not call the hotel directly. We'll assign your room to someone on the waiting list.