Capricon

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(Did you mean the Japanese Natcon?)


A Chicago-area local convention founded in 1980 by fans dissatisfied with Windycon and held annually since then. It is traditionally a four-day convention, running from Thursday through Sunday in February. Membership is consistently just below 1,000. Skylarks from Space was the original corporate parent. Phandemonium took over in the mid-90s.

One standard feature of Capricons is the "Phineas T. Track," more recently called the "Lake Wobegon Track." This is an entire hoax track of programming, usually indicated by taking place in a fictional room of the hotel with a dead panelist, a fictional panelist, and a living panelist. It caused much consternation when this practice was adopted for one of the Chicago Worldcons and took unaccustomed fans by surprise.

Capricon's mascot is Capricious the Goat, who appears on most of its advertising and program books and gave the name to the at-con newsletter, Goat Droppings. At the con, one concom member is tasked to wear a Capricious the Goat costume during various events.

Capricon was founded with the explicit aim of feuding with Windycon’s management, ISFiC, but hostility between the two conventions gradually subsided. A number of fans now work on both, and hardly anyone remembers that they were originally supposed to be inimical.

See also: List of Chicago Conventions.

Convention Date Venue Location GoHs, Notes
Capricon 1 February 20-22, 1981 Holiday Inn Evanston, IL Wilson Tucker, Terry Carr, J. R. Holmes, Mary Jane Holmes
Capricon 2 February 26-28, 1982 Radisson Hotel Chicago Gene Wolfe, Mike Stein
Capricon 3 February 1983 Radisson Hotel Chicago Stephen R. Donaldson, Otlie Foglio, Phil Foglio
Capricon 4 February 1984 Continental Hotel Chicago Paul O. Williams, Jeff Duntemann
Capricon 5 February 22-24, 1985 Lincolnwood Hyatt Lincolnwood, IL Frederik Pohl, Darlene P. Coltrain
Capricon 6 February 28-March 2, 1986 Lincolnwood Hyatt Lincolnwood, IL David R. Palmer, Tim Allen
Capricon 7 February 1987 Lincolnwood Hyatt Lincolnwood, IL Jerry Oltion, Stephen Hickman. Joan Hanke-Woods
Capricon 8 February 1988 Arlington Park Hilton Arlington Heights, IL Lawrence Watt-Evans, Kay Reynolds, Kathleen Meyer
Capricon 9 February 1989 Lincolnwood Hyatt Lincolnwood, IL Howard Waldrop, Ken Fletcher
Capricon 10 February 1990 Lincolnwood Hyatt Lincolnwood, IL P. C. Hodgell, Todd Cameron Hamilton, Bill Higgins
Capricon 11 February 21-24, 1991 Lincolnwood Hyatt Lincolnwood, IL Ellen Kushner, Beth Meacham, Becky Thomson
Capricon 12 February 20-23, 1992 Marriott Lincolnshire Resort Lincolnshire, IL Terry Bisson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Paul Park, Steve Scherer
Capricon 13 February 18-21, 1993 Pheasant Run St. Charles, IL Terry Pratchett, Darlene P. Coltrain, George Laskowski
Capricon 14 February 1994 Wyndham Hamilton Itasca, IL Connie Willis, Mary Lynn Skirvin, David Dyer-Bennet
Capricon 15 February 16-19, 1995 Wyndham Hamilton Itasca, IL Nancy Kress, Sue Blom, Lucy Synk
Capricon 16 February 8-11, 1996 Wyndham Hamilton Itasca, IL Sean Stewart, Scott Gustafson, Michael Stein
Capricon 17 February 20-23, 1997 Hyatt Oak Brook Oak Brook, IL Robert J. Sawyer. Chair: Doug Winkler
Capricon 18 February 5-8, 1998 Holiday Inn O'Hare Rosemont, IL Josepha Sherman, Steve Hockensmith
Capricon 19 February 11-14, 1999 Arlington Park Hilton Arlington Heights, IL David Weber, Todd Cameron Hamilton, Phoenix
Capricon 20 January 27-30, 2000 Arlington Park Hilton Arlington Heights, IL Larry Niven, Chris Luchini, Joseph Stockman
Capricon 21 February 8-11, 2001 Arlington Park Hilton Arlington Heights, IL Allen Steele, Geri Sullivan
Capricon 22 February 7-10, 2002 Sheraton Chicago Northwest Arlington Heights, IL Dr. Demento, James Ernest, Kaja Foglio, David Abzug
Capricon 23 February 6-9, 2003 Sheraton Chicago Northwest Arlington Heights, IL Tim Powers, Amy K. Brown, Bill Roper
Capricon 24 January 29-February 1, 2004 Sheraton Chicago Northwest Arlington Heights, IL Spider Robinson, Jeanne Robinson, Kimberly Reck, Bryan Palaszewski
Capricon 25 February 10-14, 2005 Sheraton Chicago Northwest Arlington Heights, IL James P. Hogan, Shaenon K. Garity, John Morse
Capricon 26 February 9-12, 2006 Sheraton Chicago Northwest Arlington Heights, IL Peter S. Beagle, Bryan Palaszewski, Kat Eggleston, Michael Longcor, Mary Crowell, Nick Pollotta, Jody Lynn Nye, Bill Fawcett, Phyllis Eisenstein
Capricon 27 February 8-11, 2007 Sheraton Chicago Northwest Arlington Heights, IL Lois McMaster Bujold, Erin McKee, Cat Faber, Peter S. Beagle, Bryan Palaszewski
Capricon 28 February 14-17, 2008 Sheraton Chicago Northwest Arlington Heights, IL Mike Resnick, John Baur, Mark Summers, Don Maitz, Michael Longcor, Janny Wurts, Tori Baur, Tom Smith, Bill Sutton, Brenda Sutton, Bryan Palaszewski
Capricon 29 February 19-22, 2009 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, Sharon Shinn, Gary Lippincott, Christian McGuire, Barry Childs-Helton, Sally Childs-Helton, Bryan Palaszewski
Capricon 30 February 11-14, 2010 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, Frederik Pohl, Spider Robinson, Jeanne Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, Lucy Synk, Alice Bentley
Capricon 31 February 10-13,2011 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL John Scalzi, John Picacio, Janice Gelb, Stephen Boucher
Capricon 32 February 9-12, 2012 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL Cory Doctorow, Les McClaine, Steven H Silver, Javier Grillo-Marxuach
Capricon 33 February 7-10, 2013 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL Daniel H. Wilson, Karen Ann Hollingsworth, Helen Montgomery
Capricon 34 February 6-9, 2014 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL S. M. Stirling, Tom Peters, Tadao Tomomatsu, Jan Stirling, Silent Nightmare, Sherrilyn Kenyon
Capricon 35 February 12-15, 2015 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL Matt Forbeck, Alexander James Adams, John Bivens, John Anealio, Patrick Hester, Elizabeth Huffman, and Margaret Weis
Capricon 36 February 11-14, 2016 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL Scott Lynch, Eric Wilkerson, Mark Oshiro, Stacey Gordon, Wendy Zdrodowski, and "Mae the Bellydancer"
Capricon 37 February 16-19, 2017 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL Beth Revis, Nilah Macgruder, and Meg Frank
Capricon 38 February 15-18, 2018 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL Timothy Zahn, Sarah Wilkinson, Dave McCarty, Monica Valentinelli, and Matt M. McElroy
Capricon 39 February 14-17, 2019 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL Seanan McGuire, Phil Foglio, Doug Rice, Carrie Dahlby, Matt M. McElroy
Capricon 40 February 13–16, 2020 Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL Tobias Buckell, Trungles, Lil Sams
Capricon 41 February 4–7, 2021 (virtual) Westin Chicago North Shore Wheeling, IL Online Aliette de Bodard, Brandon O’Brien, John Jennings, Michi Trota, Dr. Cacophonie Tamayo. Held online due to Covid-19
Capricon 42 February 3-7, 2022 Sheraton Grand Chicago Chicago, IL Catherynne M. Valente, Gene Ha, Tanya DePass. A partly virtual con.
Capricon 43 February 3-5, 2023 Sheraton Grand Chicago Chicago, IL Steven Brust, Moshe Yudkowsky, Christine Mitzuk
Capricon 44 February 1-4, 2024 Sheraton Grand Chicago Chicago, IL K. Tempest Bradford, Ariela Housman, Catherine Lundoff, Victor Jason Raymond



Convention
1980
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