Austin in '85
A bid to run the 1985 NASFiC (opposite Aussiecon 2) in Austin, TX. The bid was chaired by Willie Siros, aided by Robert Taylor, among others.
Bid parties featured Texas chili, cooked in crockpots to the detriment of hotel circuit breakers and bathtubs across the country, and Shiner Bock bheer, often transported in boxes labeled “Books.”
Once, bidders Leah Zeldes and Dick Smith got a call from United Parcel Service (a company which didn’t allow shipment of alcoholic beverages): “Your books are leaking. We can’t deliver this — you’ll have to come down and pick it up yourself.” Arriving at the UPS facility, they were handed a completely dry carton with no evidence of leakage, but two bottles missing. A tariff?
Among the bid’s stunts was to sneak into the banquet hall before dinner at ConFusion 101, a Michigan convention with which many of the rival bidders were associated, and put miniature Texas flags on every table plus the podium and cash bar.
Austin beat rival bidders Detroit in '85 and Columbus in '85 in voting held at Constellation. See 1985 NASFiC Site Selection for details.
The resulting convention was named LoneStarCon.
| 1985 NASFiC Site Selection | 1985 |
| This is a page about a convention bid. Please extend it by adding information about who was bidding, officers, committee list, what they were bidding for, who their opponents were, and who won. |
