Sasquan

Sasquan, the 73rd Worldcon (and the second in Washington State), was held August 19–23, 2015, at the Spokane Convention Center in Spokane, WA. Author Guests of Honor were David Gerrold and Vonda N. McIntyre, Artist GoH was Brad Foster, Astronaut GoH was Kjell Lindgren (who did not attend in person), Music GoH was Tom Smith, and Fan GoH was Leslie Turek. It was chaired by Sally Woehrle.

Initially, Woehrle and Bobbie DuFault were co-chairmen, but DuFault died two weeks after the bid was won. The vice-chairmen were Glenn Glazer, Pierre Pettinger and Mike Willmoth.

A track of programming represented the local convention, SpoCon.

The convention was marred by the affair of the Sad Puppies, which marked a big step in the decline of the Hugos. Related controversy included author Lou Antonelli, a Puppy supporter and Hugo nominee, writing a letter to the Spokane police and recounting in a fancast that he believed goh David Gerrold “was insane and a public danger and needs to be watched when the convention’s going on, and I mean it. I attached my business card. I said this guy’s inciting to violence.” Antonelli subsequently apologized, and Gerrold accepted, which, at Gerrold’s request, kept Antonelli from being banned from Sasquan for violating its Code of Conduct. (Though Antonelli later doubled down.)

The only positive bit was that a lot of fans joined to counter the awards-slating, and Sasquan got a $100,000 windfall from all of the extra memberships generated by the controversy.

A typical sunset in Spokane, August 16, 2015.

View of downtown Spokane, Friday, August 21, 2015, around 6:30 p.m.

Same view of downtown Spokane once the smoke had cleared, Saturday, August 22, 2015, around 7:15 a.m.

A lasting memory everyone who attended took home was of the smoke. 2015 was a bad year for forest fires in the Pacific Northwest, and for the entire week that people were in Spokane, the sunset was blood red. There were no fires especially near to Spokane, but the air was sometimes hazy with smoke from fires miles away. On Friday, the smoke could be smelled as well as seen (and the air was brownish), and the sun was blood red long before it reached the horizon. (Mordor probably lay just over the nearby mountains.) But by Saturday, the winds made the valley much clearer.

Attendance was 5,077 and total membership (including the vast Hugo vote) was 11,742.

Sasquan conducted the 2017 Worldcon Site Selection, in which Helsinki in 2017 was chosen over DC17, Montreal in 2017, and Nippon in 2017.

Spokane in 2015 beat Orlando in 2015 and Helsinki in 2015 in the 2015 Worldcon Site Selection conducted by LoneStarCon 3.

• Sasquan publications and photos on fanac.org.
• Website (archived).
• Hugo In Memoriam Scroll 2015.
• GoH Kjell Lindgren's Welcome Video from the ISS.
• Sasquan Recap Video.

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Loncon 3	Worldcon - Bidding - Hugos	MidAmeriCon II
Seacon	Washington State Worldcons	Seattle Worldcon 2025
	2015

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