Westercon 66

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Westercon 66 was held July 4-7, 2013 at the Hilton Arden West in Sacramento, CA. Author GoHs: Nicola Griffith, Kelley Eskridge, Artist GoH: Eric Shanower, Fan GoHs: Steven Schapansky, Warren Frey, Chris Budgess, Small Press Guest: David Maxine, Special Guests: John and Bjo Trimble. It was chaired by Kevin Roche and Andy Trembley, sponsored by SFSFC and attendance was 785.

Site selection for Westercon 66 was complicated. A bid for Portland, OR was the only bid which filed papers with Westercon 64 and consequently, was the only bid on the ballot. A bid ("Olive Country") for Granzella's Inn in Williams, CA began as a traditional hoax bid, but wound up with one vote more than Portland after the Site Selection Ballot. Rules|Westercon rules require the bid that wins an election both to have filed, and to receive a majority of votes after eliminating ballots marked "No Preference". There were three write-in votes for other locations, so there was no winner. When the ballot fails to select a winner, the site is chosen by a 3/4 vote of the Westercon Business Meeting, or if the meeting deadlocks, then by the LASFS Board of Directors.

In an epic 3-hour debate, four bids made presentations: Portland, Granzella, Hawaii, and Utah (which actually had announced a 2014 bid, but apparently decided to go for 2013 at the last moment). Votes were taken on the Portland and Granzella bids, both of which failed to get the required 3/4 vote. There was an attempt to declare a deadlock at this point, which failed after a LASFS BoD member announced that the LASFS BoD would really prefer that it be settled by the Westercon Business Meeting.

Votes on Utah and Hawaii then failed, as did another attempt at calling deadlock. As online comments began to support the idea of a fight to the death to resolve it, a motion passed to reconsider the Granzella vote, which had been the closest, and this time it passed at 93-27.

Since this was a hoax bid, Granzella's Inn was not actually aware of the convention, and the co-chairmen, Kevin Roche and Andy Trembley, announced that they would locate a real site in the vicinity, probably near Sacramento.

At Westercon Site Selection for 2015 the San Diego bid, running unopposed, received 92 of 105 votes with a preference and will run Westercon 68. (There were also 5 no preference votes.)

For some of the prehistory of the Granzella party listen to Kevin and Andy tell about their League of Evil Geniuses parties


ConClusion Westercon - Bidding Westercon 67
Website 2013
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