SMOF News, volume 3, issue 13
Westercon lives for now, Gen Con trial delayed, Gen Con staying longer in Indiana, and news in brief.
Westercon Not Dead Yet
Due to the cancellation of the original plans for it, Westercon 75 was combined with Loscon 49 this past weekend. Loscon thus hosted the Westercon business meeting and the site selection vote for Westercon 77.
No last-minute write-in bid appeared, so the site selection was won by None of the Above. However, efforts are still underway to make Westercon 77 happen. Westercon’s official site says:
The Westercon 75 Business Meeting awarded Westercon 77 to a “Caretaker Committee” consisting of Kevin Standlee and Lisa Hayes, with the understanding that this committee will entertain proposals from groups that want to host the 2025 Westercon and select from among them, then transferring the right [to] host Westercon 77 to one of those groups. The Caretaker Committee will announce additional details on how they will proceed before the end of 2023.
Kevin Standlee provided more details on Dreamwidth, including links to full videos of the Westercon business meeting, and a rundown of the current candidates for Westercon 77:
- BayCon, which for reasons that I do understand has moved to the US Independence Day Weekend.
- A low-key Seattle convention, with Linda Deneroff leading the proposal, possibly to be held over Memorial Day Weekend 2025
- A possible Las Vegas convention proposed by Scott Beckstead
BayCon’s recent move from the extremely crowded US Memorial Day weekend to the US Independence Day weekend has been widely blamed for Westercon’s latest struggles. Westercon’s constitution currently requires it to be held on Independence Day weekend. Removing that requirement is part of a package of changes approved at Loscon, which are now passed to Westercon 76 (Salt Lake City, Utah, July 4-7).
Gen Con Heist Trial Delayed
Thomas Dunbar and Andrew Giaume were originally scheduled to stand trial today for the theft of a pallet of Magic: the Gathering cards from Gen Con. According to online court documents, that trial has been delayed by request (whose request exactly is not specified). The trial is now scheduled for January 24, with a pre-trial conference January 18.
Gen Con Staying in Indiana After All
Buried under all the news about the big theft from Gen Con back in August was the announcement that Gen Con has extended its contract to remain in Indianapolis from 2026 to 2030.
Last year, during Gen Con, the state of Indiana passed a bill enacting a near total ban on abortion. Gen Con opposed the ban publicly, noting its likely negative effects on future conventions. The Indianapolis Business Journal reports that Gen Con’s management is in a much more conciliatory mood now:
“We made a decision following the lead of some other large-scale conventions, to make a commitment to stay and stand up for our values,” [Gen Con President David Hoppe] said. “We’ll do that by staying here and continuing to serve the many thousands of Hoosiers who choose to come to Gen Con. We think it’s important to be here. Indianapolis has been our home. We don’t want to walk out even if there are some things that we don’t agree with.”
Hoppe declined to say whether any stipulations were put into the group’s contract with Visit Indy that would allow it to withdraw from its contract early.
“I really don’t want to comment on the specifics of it,” he said. “The reality is that it’s a multi-part agreement that covers … a lot of different stakeholders, including all the different hotels involved.”
The only other city that the IBJ reports Gen Con considered was Chicago. Gen Con’s decision to stay was also influenced by the start of a new expansion to the Indianapolis Convention Center which is due to be completed in 2026.
In Brief
Ohayocon 24 (Columbus, Ohio, January 19-21) has added Ellyn Stern, Caleb Hyles, Kiba Walker, Knightmage, Bill Butts, Emi Lo, Cole Feuchter, and Ahhhchew Cosplay as guests.
Event Calendar
Weekend of December 1-3
Smofcon 40 (con-running), Providence, Rhode Island, USA and online
TeslaCon: The Curse of Anubis & the Arcane Mystery Machine (steampunk), Middleton, Wisconsin, USA
Midwest Furfest: Snow Days (anthropomorphic), Rosemont, Illinois, USA
Dragonmeet (gaming), London, UK
PAX Unplugged (tabletop gaming), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Shorehammer (miniatures gaming), Ocean City, Maryland, USA
Emerald Con (Pathfinder & Starfinder RPGs), Bellevue, Washington, USA and online
Otaku U II (anime), Livonia, Michigan, USA
Wintercon (media), New York City, New York, USA
GalaxyCon Columbus (media), Columbus, Ohio, USA
Geek Days Lille (media), Lille, France
Abilene Comic Con, Abilene, Texas, USA
Comic Con Okinawa, Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan
L.A. Comic Con, Los Angeles, California, USA
Abilene Comic Con, Abilene, Texas, USA
CCXP 23 (media), São Paulo, Brazil
For the Love of Sci-Fi 2023 (media), Manchester, UK
Weekend of December 8-10
XXVII Mereth Aderthad (Tolkien), Zaragoza, Spain
Cosplay Expo, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
FURUM 2023: Con Space (anthropomorphic), Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Midwest GameFest, online
Everwinter (miniatures gaming), Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
Cayden’s Ascension 4723 (Pathfinder and Starfinder RPGs), online
29 Manga Barcelona (anime), Barcelona, Spain
Yama-Con: 11th Century (anime), Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA
Anime Wonder Festival, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Anime Frontier, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Ocean City Comic Con, Ocean City, Maryland, USA
Maui Comic Con, Wailuku, Hawaii, USA
Comic Con Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Tokyo Comic Con, Tokyo, Japan
Raptor Con 2023 (media), Evansville, Indiana, USA
RADP 28 (Disney theme parks), Walt Disney World, Florida, USA
Weekend of December 15-17
Sac Gamers Expo (video games), Sacramento, California, USA
DreamHack Atlanta 2023 (video games), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Con+Alt+Delete (anime), Rosemont, Illinois, USA
OtakuFest (anime), Miami, Florida, USA
Nashville Anime Day, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
Mahoning Valley Comicon, Boardman, Ohio, USA
Weekend of December 22-24
Winter Furry Fusion, Shanghai, China
Otakukon (anime), Harare, Zimbabwe
Holiday Matsuri (anime), Orlando, Florida, USA
Comic Fiesta 2023, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Weekend of December 29-31
Furvester 5: Mad Science (anthropomorphic), Reutlingen, Germany
Yunyou Island (anthropomorphic), Chengdu, China
New Year’s Furry Ball, Newark, Delaware, USA
Bewhiskered 2023: Furries on the High Seas, Durham, North Carolina, USA
OKiCon (anime), Norman, Oklahoma, USA
Doki’s Winter Fest (anime), Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Comic Market 103 (fan comics), Tokyo, Japan
Coda
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