Con*Stellation
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(For other Constellations, see Constellation (Disambiguation).)
A convention in Huntsville, AL, that ran from 1981 to 2017, run by the North Alabama Science Fiction Association. The convention names included both a number and a constellation name (e.g., Leo, Orion, etc.).
Table of Conventions[edit]
Founding members:[edit]
John Axford, Mary Axford, Karen Blassingame, Bruce Butler, Pat Spurlock Butler, Rich Garber, Jack Giles, Jr., Courtney Clark Griffith, Sunn Hayward, James Jones, Mary Beth Given Jones, Mike Kennedy, Nelda Kennedy, Edward Kenny, David Lateigne, Tom Lemieux, Cathy Mauk, Debbie Lowe Mitchell, Rhett Mitchell, Nancy Adams Parks, Joe Earl Patterson, Mark Paulk, Roger Reynolds, David Seiler, Mike Stone, Becky Suiter, Glenn Valentine, Toni Weisskopf, and Dave Zoller
History of Con*Stellation[edit]
By Mike Kennedy
Well, this year’s convention—ContStellation XXXV—marks the end of the road for ConStellation. While that bare fact is a downer, it also means that our little all-volunteer group has brought the joys of sf/f fannish gatherings to Huntsville for the better part of four decades. We’re particularly happy that many prior Guests and attendees have chosen to join us this weekend to celebrate. And, this occasion also brings some reminiscences to mind. The history of ConfStellation in inextricably linked to its parent organization (the North Alabama Science Fiction Association), to Southern Fandom, and to the wider webs of fandom writ large. Hie earliest sf/f fandom in Huntsville—or at least the earliest known to me—was circa the early ’60s. Probably the most notable aspect of that era is the tiny gathering called DeepSouthCon 1 (or MidSouthCon as it was known at the time), which was held at David Hulan’s house in 1963. That was an outgrowth of the Southern Fandom Press Alliance (fancyclopedia.wikidot.com/sfpa), which in turn was an outgrowth of the shortlived Southern Fandom Group. DSC 4 (1966) was also in Huntsville (and by this time it was actually called DeepSouthCon—the renaming happened at DSC 2), having come here because chair Lon Atkins moved to Huntsville after winning the site selection vote at DSC 3. After this the recorded sources 2 NASFA - ConStellation - Memory Book - 2017 available to me peter out about early Huntsville fandom, though there are rumors of various groups including one oriented toward Star Trek. Those had apparently all disappeared, though, before my then-wife, Nelda, and I moved to town in January 1978. The modern era (if you will) of Huntsville fandom started in June 1980 at another con called MidSouthCon—unrelated to both DSC 1 and the ongoing Memphis con of the same name. Andy Purcell, a dealer living in south Tennessee, wanted to run a convention and Huntsville was the closest sizable town so he located it here. It took place at the now-long-defunct Sheraton Inn on University Drive. Nelda and I had been to a few cons (the 1978 & 1979 DSCs in particular) but we were pretty surprised to find out about a convention coming to our still-new home town. Needless to say, we attended. Some years before, our earliest introduction to anything approaching fandom had been though Nelda’s son, Alan, who was very into both gaming and comic books. The comics aspect was thoroughly covered in MidSouthCon’s Dealers Room but we knew that gaming was an interest among other young con-goers as well, and decided to sponsor an unofficial (and very informal) Game Room—renting a hotel room to do so. We’d been wondering how to get some organized fandom started in Huntsville. Nelda came up with the idea of posting a sign-up sheet in the Con Suite to get names of and contact info for others so inclined—it worked quite well. Within a few months, NASFA was founded. Very quickly—by late 1980 or early 1981—club members were already talking about starting our own annual convention. Meanwhile, some of us tried to learn a bit about running conventions by volunteering at cons in other cities. In the early winter of 1981 the group held ZerCon (short for Zero Con) as a one-day party/con at what was then the Kings Inn on Memorial Parkway north of University Drive. NASFA included a number of engineers and computer scientists and it seemed “logical” to start our convention numbering with zero so our first full-weekend con could be numbered “one.” I’m convinced that ZerCon holds the all-time record for the Coldest Video Room Ever. The one hotel employee who knew how to turn on the heat in the disused hotel bar—where they were letting us use their (then pretty rare) large-screen TV—was out of town that weekend and quite out of touch in that pre-cellphone era. The sub-freezing temperatures outside easily made their way inside. We tried using space heaters, but the cavernous space swallowed up what little heat they put out.
| Convention | |
| Website | 1981—2017 |
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