Westercon

Westercon is a convention that moves around the area of the United States and Canada west of the 104th meridian. It is selected like Worldcon with bidding, mail and at-con site selection, and a two-year lead time.

It is one of the oldest continuing conventions in the world.

Westercon was started in 1948 when LASFS began an annual West Coast convention for fans who couldn't afford to travel to the East Coast where most Worldcons were held.

Just who started Westercon turns out to be confusing. The LASFS minutes of 24 June 48 state:

E. Everett Evans brought up a subject very dear to him -- that of a West Coast Conference; a one-day conventionette for local fans....He motioned that the LASFS should sponsor one on Labor Day, Sept 5th, Dave Fox seconded and the motion was passed. Everett was placed in charge of the arrangements.

Evans was listed as the founder for fifty or so years, but when LASFS historian Fred Patten researched it, he concluded that Walter J. Daugherty was the founder and the westercon.org website now lists him as having proposed the motion. Certainly both Daugherty and Evans were actively involved in the founding along with Ackerman and perhaps the best we can say today is that all three deserve substantial credit.

Regardless, the first Westercon was chaired by Evans and held September 5, 1948, attended by 77 people. Daugherty chaired #2 the following year. Westercon became a weekend-long convention in 1951 when it settled into its 4th of July weekend date and started moving between cities.

It is a Westercon tradition that GoHs are preferred from the region (west of the 104th W. meridian), having either been born or lived in the zone.

Westercon is formally sponsored by LASFS, though in practice it is completely independent. Nonetheless, in the event that Westercon is unable to function, the LASFS Board of Directors is responsible for sorting things out.

See Westercon bids for more on Westercon bidding.

Some Westercons (in bold) were held jointly with Worldcon. In most (but not all) cases they shared leadership and GoHs.

Website.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

An annual conclave for the Western half of the United States -- West of the Rockies, that is -- begun by the LASFS on Labor Day 1948. It has since become an institution for which other clubs bid also, like the Worldcon, and until the past year was always some place in California.

No.	Convention	Date	Location	GoHs, Notes
1	Westercon 1	September 5, 1948	Los Angeles	none
2	Westercon 2	October 2, 1949	Los Angeles	none
3	Westercon 3	June 18, 1950	Los Angeles	Robert S. Richardson
4	Westercon 4	June 29-July 1, 1951	San Francisco	George Pal
5	Sou-Westercon	June 28-29, 1952	San Diego	Ray Bradbury, William Nolan
6	Westercon 6	May 30-31, 1953	Los Angeles	Gerald Heard
7	SFCon	September 3-4, 1954	San Francisco	Jack Williamson
8	Westercon 8	June 3-4, 1955	Los Angeles	Mel Hunter
9	Westercon 9	June 30-July 1, 1956	Oakland	Richard Matheson
10	Westercon 10	July 4-7, 1957	Hollywood	Mark Clifton
11	Solacon	September 1, 1958	Los Angeles	Richard Matheson
12	Westercon 12	June 3-5, 1959	Seattle	Alan E. Nourse
13	Boycon	July 2-4, 1960	Boise, ID	Rog Phillips
14	Baycon	July 1-2, 1961	Oakland	Fritz Leiber, Jack Speer
15	Westercon 15	June 30-July 1, 1962	Los Angeles	Jack Vance, Alva Rogers
16	Westercon 16	July 4-7, 1963	San Francisco	Kris Neville, F. M. Busby, Elinor Busby
17	Pacificon II	September 4, 1964	Oakland	Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, Forrest J Ackerman
18	Westercon 18	July 3-5, 1965	Long Beach, CA	Frank Herbert, Anthony Boucher
19	Westercon 19	July 1-4, 1966	San Diego	Harlan Ellison, John Trimble, Bjo Trimble
20	Westercon 20	July 1-4, 1967	Los Angeles	Marion Zimmer Bradley, Lon Atkins
21	Baycon	September 1, 1968	Berkeley	Philip José Farmer, Walter J. Daugherty, Takumi Shibano
22	FUNcon II	July 3-6, 1969	Santa Monica	Randall Garrett, Roy Tackett
23	Westercon 23	July 2-5, 1970	Santa Barbara, CA	Jack Williamson, Rick Sneary
24	SFCon '71	July 1-5, 1971	San Francisco	Avram Davidson, Don Simpson
25	Westercon 25	June 30-July 4, 1972	Long Beach	Lloyd Biggle, Jr., Len Moffatt
26	SFCon '73	June 30-July 4 1973	San Francisco	Larry Niven, George Barr, James Coleman Nelson
27	Westercon 27	July 3-7, 1974	Santa Barbara	Philip K. Dick, Charles Burbee
28	OakLaCon	July 3-6, 1975	Oakland	David Gerrold, Dena Brown, Charlie Brown, Ian Ballantine, Betty Ballantine
29	Westercon 29	July 2-5, 1976	Los Angeles	Horace L. Gold, Gregg Calkins
30	Westercon 30	July 1-4, 1977	Vancouver, BC	Damon Knight, Frank Denton, Kate Wilhelm
31	Westercone	June 30-July 4, 1978	Los Angeles	Poul Anderson, Don C. Thompson
32	Westercon 32	July 4-8, 1979	San Francisco	Richard Lupoff, Bruce Pelz, Sherry Gottlieb
33	Westercon 33	July 3-6, 1980	Los Angeles	Roger Zelazny, Bob Vardeman
34	Westercon 34	July 2-5, 1981	Sacramento	C. J. Cherryh, Grant Canfield
35	Westercon 35	July 2-5, 1982	Phoenix	Gordon R. Dickson, Fran Skene, Robert Asprin
36	Westerchron	July 1-4, 1983	San Jose	Phil Klass (William Tenn), Alicia Austin, Tom Whitmore
37	Westercon 37	June 29-July 3 1984	Portland, OR	Harlan Ellison, F. M. Busby, Elinor Busby, Alex Schomburg
38	Westercon 38	July 3-7, 1985	Sacramento	James Hogan, Paula Christ
39	Westercon 39	July 3-6, 1986	San Diego	David Brin, Karen Turner
40	Episode XXXX	July 2-5, 1987	Oakland, CA	Gregory Benford, Aubrey MacDermott, Lela Dowling, Ken Macklin, Leslie Fish
41	Westercon 41	July 1-4, 1988	Phoenix	Robert Silverberg, Real Musgrave, Craig Miller
42	Conosaurus	June 30-July 4, 1989	Anaheim	John Varley, Arthur Hlavaty
43	Westercon 43	July 5-8, 1990	Portland, OR	Ursula K. Le Guin, Vonda McIntyre, Kate Wilhelm, Art Widner
44	Westercon 44	July 2-6, 1991	Vancouver, BC	William Gibson, C. J. Cherryh, Jerry Kaufman, Suzanne Tompkins, Steve Jackson , Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Warren Oddsson, Verna Trestrail
45	Westercolt	July 2-5, 1992	Phoenix	Jennifer Roberson, Pat Mueller, Rick Sternbach
46	Westercon 46	July 2-5, 1993	Seattle	Greg Bear, F. M. Busby, Elinor Busby, Wally Gonser
47	Conozoic	July 1-4, 1994	Los Angeles	George R. R. Martin, Bill Rotsler, Real Musgrave
48	Westercon 48	June 30-July 3, 1995	Portland, OR	Vernor Vinge, Elayne Pelz, John R. Foster, Ray Villard
49	ConDiablo	July 4-7, 1996	El Paso, TX	James P. Blaylock, Howard Waldrop, Brad W. Foster, Arnie Katz, Joyce Katz
50	Westercon 50	July 3-6, 1997	Seattle	Martin H. Greenberg, J. Michael Straczynski, Amy Thomson, Victoria Lisi, Jack Cohen, Walter J. Daugherty, Spider Robinson, Jeanne Robinson
51	Concept 1998	July 2-5, 1998	San Diego	Katherine Kurtz, Scott MacMillian, Sue Dawe, David W. Clark
52	Empirecon	July 2-5, 1999	Spokane	C. J. Cherryh, Barbara Hambly, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Alicia Austin, Wendy Pini, Ellen Datlow, Larry Baker
53	Conolulu	July 1-4, 2000	Honolulu	Dan Simmons, Ctein, John Lorentz
54	Westercon 54	July 5-8, 2001	Portland, OR	Tim Powers, Mike Glyer, Frank Lurz
55	Conagerie	July 4-7, 2002	Los Angeles	Harry Turtledove, Robert Lichtman, Beth Meacham, Ross Chamberlin
56	Westercon 56	July 3-6, 2003	SeaTac, WA	Bruce Sterling, Lisa Snellings, Saul Jaffe, Claire Eddy
57	Conkopelli	July 2-5, 2004	Litchfield Park, AZ	C. J. Cherryh, David Cherry, Heather Alexander, Diana Gabaldon, Virginia Hey, John Hertz
58	Due North	July 1-4, 2005	Calgary, AB	S. M. Stirling, Dave Duncan, Mark Ferrari, Tom Doherty, David Hartwell, Dr. Phil Currie, Cliff Samuels, Eileen Capes
59	Conzilla	July 1-4, 2006	San Diego	Walter Jon Williams, Bob Eggleton, Bobbi Armbruster
60	Gnomeward Bound	June 30-July 3, 2007	San Mateo, CA	Tad Williams, Theresa Mather, Christian McGuire
61	Westercon 61	July 3-6, 2008	Las Vegas	Kage Baker, Lubov, Milt Stevens
62	Fiestacon	July 2-5, 2009	Tempe, AZ	Todd Lockwood, Alan Dean Foster, Stanley Schmidt, Jim Webbert, Doreen Webbert
63	Confirmation	July 1-4, 2010	Pasadena, CA	Rudy Rucker, Marc Schirmeister, John D. Berry
64	Westercon 64	July 1-4, 2011	San Jose, CA	Patricia A. McKillip, Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio, Mike Willmoth
65	ConClusion	July 5-8, 2012	SeaTac, WA	Robin Hobb, Frank Wu, Brianna Spacekat Wu, Chaz Boston Baden, Art Bozlee, Vixy & Tony
66	Westercon 66	July 4-7, 2013	Sacramento, CA	Nicola Griffith, Kelley Eskridge, Eric Shanower, Steven Schapansky, Warren Frey, Chris Budgess, David Maxine, John Trimble, Bjo Trimble
67	Westercon 67	July 3-6, 2014	Salt Lake City, UT	Cory Doctorow, Chris Garcia, David Maxine, Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells
68	Westercon 68	July 2-3, 2015	San Diego, CA	Mira Grant,John Picacio, Seanan McGuire, William F. Nolan
69	Westercon 69	July 1-4, 2016	Portland, OR	John Scalzi, Theresa Mather, Bobak Ferdowsi, Charles Stross, David D. Levine
70	Conalope	July 1-4, 2017	Tempe, AZ	Julie Dillon, Tom Deadstuff, Larry Elmore, Connie Willis, Gini Koch, Henry Vanderbilt, Val Ontell, Ron Ontell, Tim Griffin, Bjo Trimble, John Trimble
71	Westercon 71	July 4-8, 2018	Denver, CO	Nancy Kress, Rebecca Moesta Jeff Sturgeon, Margaret Davis, Kristoph Klover, Mem Morman, Kent Bloom, Andrew Mayne
72	Spikecon	July 4-7, 2019	Layton, UT	Jim Butcher, Vincent Villafranca, Tom Smith, Kitty Krell, Kevin Standlee, Lisa Hayes, Kuma Bear
2020			No Westercon held.
73	Westercon 73 Loscon 47	July 2-5, 2020 July 1-4, 2021 November 26-28, 2021	Seattle, WA Los Angeles	David Brin, Rob Carlos, Ethan Siegel, Kevin Roche, Andrew Trembley Westercon 73 semi-canceled: Postponed due to Covid-19 and then nominally combined with Loscon 47. Loscon gohs: Gregory Benford, Jeff Sturgeon, Dennis Cherry, Kristine Cherry
74	Westercon 74	July 1-4, 2021 July 1-4, 2022	Tonopah, NV	Kevin Andrew Murphy, Myrna Donato
75	Westercon 75 Loscon 49	June 30-July 3, 2023 November 24–26, 2023	Anaheim, CA Los Angeles, CA	Gail Carriger, Kevin Grazier. Westercon 75 semi-canceled: Nominally combined with Loscon 49. Loscon gohs: Peter S. Beagle, Echo Chernik, Elayne Pelz.
76	Westercon 76	July 4–7, 2024	Salt Lake City, UT	TBD

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Convention
	1948—

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