Westercon 16

Westercon 16 was a convention held July 4-7, 1963 at the Hyatt House Hotel in Burlingame, CA. GoH: Kris Neville; FGoH: F. M. Busby and Elinor Busby. It was chaired by Al haLevy with Bill Donaho, Alva Rogers and Ben Stark rounding out the committee and it was sponsored by the Little Men. The toastmaster was Anthony Boucher.

The fan panel "Relation of Fandom to Science Fiction" featured F. M. Busby, James Blish, Dick Ellington, Karen Anderson, Ron Ellik, and Leland Sapiro. Sapiro took control of panel with what was described by Ron Ellik as "a bombastic tirade" where he criticized gab-fests that clutter up apas and denounced the current state and paucity of critical sf reviews in fandom.

Bjo's Project Art Show made its second appearance at Westercon. The show featured drawings and paintings by Karen Anderson, George Barr, Cynthia Goldstone, and Don Simpson, and included an art auction and art show awards with ten categories.

The costume contest top award went to Bruce Pelz, as a trooper from Jack Vance's "Dragon Masters". (The costume featured four feet of real broadsword.) Other winners included Bjo Trimble, Bill Roberts, and Karen Anderson.

The convention also featured poker games that lasted through the nights and well into the days. Anthony Boucher and Barney Bernard befuddled other participants with their combination of luck and skill with the cards. The second day of the convention, a scurrilous but entertaining rumor started up that Fred Pohl lost Galaxy to Bernard in a game of showdown, but it proved to be false, to the disappointment of many.

Westercon 16 publications and photos on fanac.org

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Westercon 15	Westercon - Bidding	Westercon 17
	1963

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