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 were unable to function, the LASFS Board of Directors would be 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 [i.e., 1958] was always some place in California.

Convention	Date	Location	GoHs
Westercon 1	September 5, 1948	Los Angeles	none
Westercon 2	October 2, 1949	Los Angeles	none
Westercon 3	June 18, 1950	Los Angeles	Robert S. Richardson
Westercon 4	June 29-July 1, 1951	San Francisco	George Pal
Sou-Westercon	June 28-June 29, 1952	San Diego	Ray Bradbury, William Nolan
Westercon 6	May 30-31, 1953	Los Angeles	Gerald Heard
SFCon	September 3-4, 1954	San Francisco	Jack Williamson
Westercon 8	June 3-4, 1955	Los Angeles	Mel Hunter
Westercon 9	June 30-July 1, 1956	Oakland	Richard Matheson
Westercon 10	July 4-7, 1957	Hollywood	Mark Clifton
Solacon	September 1, 1958	Los Angeles	Richard Matheson
Westercon 12	June 3-5, 1959	Seattle	Alan E. Nourse
Boycon	July 2-4, 1960	Boise	Rog Phillips
Baycon	July 1-2, 1961	Oakland	Fritz Leiber, Jack Speer
Westercon 15	June 30-July 1, 1962	Los Angeles	Jack Vance, Alva Rogers
Westercon 16	July 4-7, 1963	San Francisco	Kris Neville, F. M. Busby, Elinor Busby
Pacificon II	September 4, 1964	Oakland	Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, Forrest J Ackerman
Westercon 18	July 3-5, 1965	Long Beach, CA	Frank Herbert, Anthony Boucher
Westercon 19	July 1-4, 1966	San Diego	Harlan Ellison, John Trimble, Bjo Trimble
Westercon 20	July 1-4, 1967	Los Angeles	Marion Zimmer Bradley, Lon Atkins
Baycon	September 1, 1968	Berkeley	Philip José Farmer, Walter J. Daugherty, Takumi Shibano
FUNcon II	July 3-6, 1969	Santa Monica	Randall Garrett, Roy Tackett
Westercon 23	July 2-5, 1970	Santa Barbara	Jack Williamson, Rick Sneary
SFCon '71	July 1-5, 1971	San Francisco	Avram Davidson, Don Simpson
Westercon 25	June 30-July 4, 1972	Long Beach	Lloyd Biggle, Jr., Len Moffatt
SFCon '73	June 30-July 4 1973	San Francisco	Larry Niven, George Barr, James Coleman Nelson
Westercon 27	July 3-7, 1974	Santa Barbara	Philip K. Dick, Charles Burbee
OakLaCon	July 3-6, 1975	Oakland	David Gerrold, Dena Brown, Charlie Brown, Ian Ballantine, Betty Ballantine
Westercon 29	July 2-5, 1976	Los Angeles	Horace L. Gold, Gregg Calkins
Westercon 30	July 1-4, 1977	Vancouver, BC	Damon Knight, Frank Denton, Kate Wilhelm
Westercone	June 30-July 4, 1978	Los Angeles	Poul Anderson, Don C. Thompson
Westercon 32	July 4-8, 1979	San Francisco	Richard Lupoff, Bruce Pelz, Sherry Gottlieb
Westercon 33	July 3-6, 1980	Los Angeles	Roger Zelazny, Bob Vardeman
Westercon 34	July 2-5, 1981	Sacramento	C. J. Cherryh, Grant Canfield
Westercon 35	July 2-5, 1982	Phoenix	Gordon R. Dickson, Fran Skene, Robert Asprin
Westerchron	July 1-4, 1983	San Jose	Phil Klass (William Tenn), Alicia Austin, Tom Whitmore
Westercon 37	June 29-July 3 1984	Portland	Harlan Ellison, F. M. Busby, Elinor Busby, Alex Schomburg
Westercon 38	July 3-7, 1985	Sacramento	James Hogan, Paula Christ
Westercon 39	July 3-6, 1986	San Diego	David Brin, Karen Turner
Episode XXXX	July 2-5, 1987	Oakland	Gregory Benford, Aubrey MacDermott, Lela Dowling, Ken Macklin, Leslie Fish
Westercon 41	July 1-4, 1988	Phoenix	Robert Silverberg, Real Musgrave, Craig Miller
Conosaurus	June 30-July 4, 1989	Anaheim	John Varley, Arthur Hlavaty
Westercon 43	July 5-8, 1990	Portland	Ursula K. Le Guin, Vonda McIntyre, Kate Wilhelm, Art Widner
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
Westercolt	July 2-5, 1992	Phoenix	Jennifer Roberson, Pat Mueller, Rick Sternbach
Westercon 46	July 2-5, 1993	Seattle	Greg Bear, F. M. Busby, Elinor Busby, Wally Gonser
Conozoic	July 1-4, 1994	Los Angeles	George R. R. Martin, Bill Rotsler, Real Musgrave
Westercon 48	June 30-July 3, 1995	Portland	Vernor Vinge, Elayne Pelz, John R. Foster, Ray Villard
ConDiablo	July 4-7, 1996	El Paso	James P. Blaylock, Howard Waldrop, Brad W. Foster, Arnie Katz, Joyce Katz
Westercon 50	July 3-6, 1997	Seattle	Dr. Martin M. Greenberg, J. Michael Straczynski, Amy Thomson, Victoria Lisi, Jack Cohen, Walter J. Daugherty, Spider Robinson, Jeanne Robinson
Concept 1998	July 2-5, 1998	San Diego	Katherine Kurtz, Scott MacMillian, Sue Dawe, David W. Clark
Empirecon	July 2-5, 1999	Spokane	C. J. Cherryh, Barbara Hambly, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Alicia Austin, Wendy Pini, Ellen Datlow, Larry Baker
Conolulu	July 1-4, 2000	Honolulu	Dan Simmons, Ctein, John Lorentz
Westercon 54	July 5-8, 2001	Portland	Tim Powers, Mike Glyer, Frank Lurz
Conagerie	July 4-7, 2002	Los Angeles	Harry Turtledove, Robert Lichtman, Beth Meacham, Ross Chamberlin
Westercon 56	July 3-6, 2003	SeaTac, WA	Bruce Sterling, Lisa Snellings, Saul Jaffe, Claire Eddy
Conkopelli	July 2-5, 2004	Litchfield Park, AZ	C. J. Cherryh, David Cherry, Heather Alexander, Diana Gabaldon, Virginia Hey, John Hertz
Due North	July 1-4, 2005	Calgary	S. M. Stirling, Dave Duncan, Mark Ferrari, Tom Doherty, David Hartwell, Dr. Phil Currie, Cliff Samuels, Eileen Capes
Conzilla	July 1-4, 2006	San Diego	Walter Jon Williams, Bob Eggleton, Bobbi Armbruster
Gnomeward Bound	June 30-July 3, 2007	San Mateo	Tad Williams, Theresa Mather, Christian McGuire
Westercon 61	July 3-6, 2008	Las Vegas	Kage Baker, Lubov, Milt Stevens
Fiestacon	July 2-5, 2009	Tempe, AZ	Todd Lockwood, Alan Dean Foster, Stanley Schmidt, Jim Webbert, Doreen Webbert
Confirmation	July 1-4, 2010	Pasadena, CA	Rudy Rucker, Marc Schirmeister, John D. Berry
Westercon 64	July 1-4, 2011	San Jose, CA	Patricia A. McKillip, Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio, Mike Willmoth
ConClusion	July 5-8, 2012	SeaTac, WA	Robin Hobb, Frank Wu, Brianna Spacekat Wu, Chaz Boston Baden, Art Bozlee, Vixy & Tony
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
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
Westercon 68	July 2-3, 2015	San Diego, CA	Mira Grant,John Picacio, Seanan McGuire, William F. Nolan
Westercon 69	July 1-4, 2016	Portland, OR	John Scalzi, Theresa Mather, Bobak Ferdowsi, Charles Stross, David D. Levine
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
Westercon 71	July 4-8, 2018	Denver, CO	Nancy Kress, Rebecca Moesta Jeff Sturgeon, Margaret Davis, Kristoph Klover, Mem Morman, Kent Bloom, Andrew Mayne
Spikecon	July 4-7, 2019	Layton, UT	Jim Butcher, Vincent Villafranca, Tom Smith, Kitty Krell, Kevin Standlee, Lisa Hayes, Kuma Bear
Westercon 73	July 2-5, 2020 July 1-4, 2021 November 26-28, 2021	Seattle, WA	David Brin, Rob Carlos, Ethan Siegel, Kevin Roche, Andrew Trembley
Westercon 74	July 1-4, 2021 July 1-4, 2022	Tonopah, NV	Kevin Andrew Murphy, Myrna Donato
Westercon 75	June 30-July 3, 2023	Anaheim, CA	Gail Carriger, Kevin Grazier

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Convention
	1948—

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