In 1948, Walter J. “Doc” Daugherty of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society proposed that an annual West Coast convention be started for West Coast fans who couldn’t afford to travel east each year. The first Westercon was held in September, 1948. It was a one-day event with an attendance of 77. It wasn’t until 1951 that the Westercon became a weekend-long event, settled into the July 4th holiday and began traveling to different cities. Note that according to Fancyclopedia 3, E. Everett Evans was the member of LASFS who introduced the motion to create Westercon and who chaired the first Westercon, with Daugherty chairing the second.

No Westercon was held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Westercons 73 and 74 were originally scheduled for July 2-5, 2020 and July 2-5, 2021 respectively, but postponed their conventions one year because of the restrictions on large group gatherings imposed by the pandemic conditions.

Feetnotes (Well, there are more than one of them)

1. Replaced Steward Metchette as Chairman.
2. Combined with the World Science Fiction Convention, sharing names, Guests of Honor and Chairs. One day was usually designated as Westercon (Chair and Guest of Honor) day.
3. Replaced Ted Johnstone as Chairman
4. Mythcon combined with Westercon that year.
5. Did not attend.
6. Lex Nakashima became sole chair during run-up to con.
7. The 1954 Worldcon was combined with the Westercon that year, with John W. Campbell as Worldcon GoH and Jack Williamson as Westercon GoH. The Worldcon “Executive Committee” consisted of Lester Cole and Gary J. Nelson; the Westercon Chairman was J. Ben Stark. Robert Bloch was MC at the combined Convention Banquet.
8. Hotel moved from San Jose Doubletree to San Mateo Marriott, date moved from July 6-9, 2007.
9. Combined with ConChord 23.
10. Combined with CONduit 24.
11. In addition, approximately 220 attendees of FantasyCon, an independent event held simultaneously across the street from the site of Westercon, attended Westercon under a joint-admission policy between the two events. (An exact count was not possible because of the joint admission; 220 is the count of those FantasyCon attendees who registered their joint attendance with the Westercon registration desk.)
12. Combined with Conjecture 13 (Guest of Honor Steven Brust) and Conchord 27 (Guests of Honor Vixy & Tony, Interfilk Guests Morva Bowman and Alan Pollard).
13. Spider Robinson was unable to attend due to health issues. After Robinson announced that he was not going to be able to attend, Mira Grant was announced as an Additional Guest of Honor.
14. Combined with GearCon.
15. This appears to be total membership, not warm-body count.
16. Combined with LepreCon 43. Guest of Honor titles are consistent with traditional LepreCon practice.
17. Total memberships of all types including supporting: 1673
18. Combined with Myths and Legends Con 6.
19. Originally announced for the Westin in Westminster CO. Relocated as part of the transfer of the convention from Stories for Students to Shiny Garden (See Note 21).
20. Peter J Wacks was originally announced as co-chair but stepped down shortly after the convention was seated in July 2016.
21. Originally under the sponsorship of Stories for Students. On May 31, 2017, the convention announced that Stories for Students had dissolved, turning over the organization of Westercon 71 to Shiny Garden, corporate parent of Myths and Legends.
22. According to information from Alex von Thorn received 26 January 2018, described as “information about Westercon 65 given by the convention chair at the registration desk”: 920 attending, 30 supporting, total registered 950, 865 warm bodies on site.
23. Combined with 2019 North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC), MantiCon 2019, and 1632 Minicon. Guests listed are those specific to Westercon; the combined event had additional guests of honor.
24. According to information from Billy van Ark received 29 November 2018: 808 attending, 27 supporting, and “approximately 60 badges not picked up.” This 750 warm-body-count is an estimate from the convention management.
25. Tom Smith was unable to attend.
26. Sally Wohrle, the originally-announced Chair, stepped down due to health reasons according to an announcement posted by the convention to its Facebook page on January 23, 2021.
27. After initially being postponed for one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the convention announced on its Facebook page and web site on January 23, 2021 that it would be held entirely online/virtually and that there would be no in-person element to the convention. On April 11, 2021, the convention announced on its Facebook page and web site that the committee would not be able to hold the convention and that LASFS, owners of the Westercon service mark, would take over the official functions of Westercon and combine them with Loscon 47, November 26-28, 2021, at the Marriott Los Angeles Airport Hotel, under the provisions of the Westercon Bylaws.
28. These were the announced guests of Westercon 73 as originally planned in Seattle prior to the cancellation of the Seattle event. While the official functions of Westercon (Business Meeting and Site Selection) were assumed by Loscon 47, the guests of honor were not.
29. According to email from Registrar Jordan Brown dated 22 December 2021, “890 warm bodies, 245 no-shows.”
30. According to information from Registrar Linda Deneroff as of July 4, 2022 (updated July 23, 2022): 338 total members, 278 attending memberships sold, 1 child, 59 supporting, and 159 badges picked up.
31. No bids filed to host Westercon 75, and thus no qualified bid was selected through the ordingary site selection process at Westercon 73. The Westercon 73 Business Meeting awarded Westercon 75 to a committee consisting of Kevin Standlee and Lisa Hayes with the understanding that they would search for a different committee to actually operate the convention. On June 30, 2022 Standlee and Hayes announced that they had transferred Westercon 75 to a committee led by Arlene Busby and Michelle Weisblatt-Dane to hold the convention in Anaheim CA. On September 13, 2022, Weisblatt-Dane announced on Facebook that she was stepping down from co-chairing the convention for health reasons.
32. No bids filed with Westercon 73 by the April 15, 2022 deadline to appear on the 2024 Westercon site selection ballot. A write-in bid for Utah in 2024 filed with Westercon 73, but while the bid included a valid committee and site, it did not include a requisite non-profit organization. While 55 of the 60 votes cast (58 with preference) in the 2024 site selection election were for the Utah bid, it was not eligible to win the election and the decision was referred to the Business Meeting. Bids selected by the Business Meeting do not have to meet the conditions required to file bids for the normal site selection process. The Westercon 74 Business Meeting selected the Utah in 2024 bid committe to host Westercon 76, but strongly encouraged the committee to obtain non-profit status as the earliest opportunity.
33. On May 8, 2023, the Westercon 75 (Anaheim) committee announced that they would be unable to host the convention as originally planned. LASFS, owner of the Westercon service mark, took over the official functions of Westercon and combined them with Loscon 49, November 24-26, 2023, at the Marriott Los Angeles Airport Hotel, under the provisions of the Westercon Bylaws.
34. This was the announced guest of Westercon 75 as originally planned in Anaheim prior to the cancellation of the Anaheim event. While the official functions of Westercon (Business Meeting and Site Selection) were assumed by Loscon 49, the guests of honor were not.

People who worked on or contributed to this document:
Chaz Boston Baden, Stephanie Bannon, James M. Briggs, Marty Cantor, Bobbie DuFault, Glenn Glazer, Don Glover, John Lorentz, Craig Miller, Dick O’Shea, Jo Rhett, Kevin Standlee, Andy Trembley, Billy van Ark, Alex von Thorn.