Capricon

A Chicago area regional convention founded in 1980 and held annually since then. It is traditionally a four-day convention, running from Thursday through Sunday in February. Membership is consistently just below 1,000. Phandemonium is the corporate parent.

One standard feature of Capricons is the "Phineas T. Track," more recently called the "Lake Wobegon Track." This is an entire hoax track of programming, usually indicated by taking place in a fictional room of the hotel with a dead panelist, a fictional panelist, and a living panelist.

Capricon's mascot is Capricious the Goat, who appears on most of its advertising and program books and gave the name to the at-con newsletter, Goat Droppings. At the con, one concom member is tasked to wear a Capricious the Goat costume during various events.

Capricon was founded with the explicit aim of feuding with Windycon, but hostility between the two conventions gradually subsided. A number of fans now work on both, and hardly anyone remembers that they were originally supposed to be inimical.

Goat Droppings -- Capricon blog page

Convention	Date	Location	GoHs
Capricon 1	February 20-22, 1981	Holiday Inn, Evanston, IL	Wilson Tucker, Terry Carr, J. R. Holmes, Mary Jane Holmes
Capricon 2	February 26-28, 1982	Radisson Hotel, Chicago	Gene Wolfe, Mike Stein
Capricon 3	February 1983	Radisson Hotel, Chicago	Stephen R. Donaldson, Otlie Foglio, Phil Foglio
Capricon 4	February 1984	Continental Hotel in Chicago	Paul O. Williams, Jeff Duntemann
Capricon 5	February 22-24, 1985	Lincolnwood Hyatt, Lincolnwood, IL	Frederik Pohl, Darlene P. Coltrain
Capricon 6	February 28-March 2, 1986	Lincolnwood Hyatt in Lincolnwood, IL	David R. Palmer, Tim Allen
Capricon 7	February 1987	Lincolnwood Hyatt in Lincolnwood, IL	Jerry Oltion, Stephen Hickman. Joan Hanke-Woods
Capricon 8	February 1988	Arlington Park Hilton in Arlington Heights, IL	Lawrence Watt-Evans, Kay Reynolds, Kathleen Meyer
Capricon 9	February 1989	Lincolnwood Hyatt in Lincolnwood, IL	Howard Waldrop, Ken Fletcher
Capricon 10	February 1990	Lincolnwood Hyatt in Lincolnwood, IL	P. C. Hodgell, Todd Cameron Hamilton, Bill Higgins
Capricon 11	February 21-24, 1991	Lincolnwood Hyatt in Lincolnwood, IL	Ellen Kushner, Beth Meacham, Becky Thomson
Capricon 12	February 20-23, 1992	Marriott Lincolnshire Resort in Lincolnshire, IL	Terry Bisson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Paul Park, Steve Scherer
Capricon 13	February 18-21, 1993	Pheasant Run in St. Charles, IL	Terry Pratchett, Darlene P. Coltrain, George Laskowski
Capricon 14	February 1994	Wyndham Hamilton in Itasca, IL	Connie Willis, Mary Lynn Skirvin, David Dyer-Bennet
Capricon 15	February 16-19, 1995	Wyndham Hamilton in Itasca, IL	Nancy Kress, Sue Blom
Capricon 16	February 8-11, 1996	Wyndham Hamilton in Itasca, IL	Sean Stewart, Scott Gustafson, Michael Stein
Capricon 17	February 20-23, 1997	Hyatt Oak Brook, Oak Brook, IL	Robert J. Sawyer. Chair: Doug Winkler
Capricon 18	February 5-8, 1998	Holiday Inn O'Hare, Rosemont, IL	Josepha Sherman, Steve Hockensmith
Capricon 19	February 11-14, 1999	Arlington Park Hilton in Arlington Heights, IL	David Weber, Todd Cameron Hamilton, Phoenix
Capricon 20	January 27-30, 2000	Arlington Park Hilton in Arlington Heights, IL	Larry Niven, Chris Luchini, Joseph Stockman
Capricon 21	February 8-11, 2001	Arlington Park Hilton in Arlington Heights, IL	Allen Steele, Geri Sullivan
Capricon 22	February 7-10, 2002	Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights, IL	Dr. Demento, James Ernest, Kaja Foglio, David Abzug
Capricon 23	February 6-9, 2003	Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights, IL	Tim Powers, Amy K. Brown, Bill Roper
Capricon 24	January 29-February 1, 2004	Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights, IL	Spider Robinson, Jeanne Robinson, Kimberly Reck, Bryan Palaszewski
Capricon 25	February 10-14, 2005	Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights, IL	James P. Hogan, Shaenon K. Garity, John Morse
Capricon 26	February 9-12, 2006	Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights, IL	Peter S. Beagle, Bryan Palaszewski, Kat Eggleston, Michael Longcor, Mary Crowell, Nick Pollotta, Jody Lynn Nye, Bill Fawcett, Phyllis Eisenstein
Capricon 27	February 8-11, 2007	Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights, IL	Lois McMaster Bujold, Erin McKee, Cat Faber, Peter S. Beagle, Bryan Palaszewski. Chair: Gretchen Roper
Capricon 28	February 14-17, 2008	Sheraton Chicago Northwest in Arlington Heights, IL	Mike Resnick, John Baur, Mark Summers, Don Maitz, Michael Longcor, Janny Wurts, Tori Baur, Tom Smith, Bill Sutton, Brenda Sutton, Bryan Palaszewski
Capricon 29	February 19-22, 2009	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling,	Sharon Shinn, Gary Lippincott, Christian McGuire, Barry Childs-Helton, Sally Childs-Helton, Bryan Palaszewski
Capricon 30	February 11-14, 2010	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling,	Frederik Pohl, Spider Robinson, Jeanne Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, Lucy Synk, Alice Bentley
Capricon 31	February 10-13,2011	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL	John Scalzi, John Picacio, Janice Gelb, Stephen Boucher
Capricon 32	February 9-12, 2012	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL	Cory Doctorow, Les McClaine, Steven H Silver, Javier Grillo-Marxuach
Capricon 33	February 7-10, 2013	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL	Daniel H. Wilson, Karen Ann Hollingsworth, Helen Montgomery
Capricon 34	February 6-9, 2014	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL	S. M. Stirling, Tom Peters, Tadao Tomomatsu, Jan Stirling, Silent Nightmare, Sherrilyn Kenyon
Capricon 35	February 12-15, 2015	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL	Matt Forbeck, Alexander James Adams, John Bivens, John Anealio, Patrick Hester, Elizabeth Huffman, and Margaret Weis
Capricon 36	February 11-14, 2016	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL	Scott Lynch, Eric Wilkerson, Mark Oshiro, Stacey Gordon, Wendy Zdrodowski, and "Mae the Bellydancer"
Capricon 37	February 16-19, 2017	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL	Beth Revis, Nilah Macgruder, and Meg Frank
Capricon 38	February 15-18, 2018	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL	Timothy Zahn, Sarah Wilkinson, Dave McCarty, Monica Valentinelli, and Matt M. McElroy
Capricon 39	February 14-17, 2019	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL	Seanan McGuire, Phil Foglio, Doug Rice, Carrie Dahlby, Matt M. McElroy
Capricon 40	February 13–16, 2020	Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, IL	Tobias Buckell, Trungles, Lil Sams
Capricon 41	February 4–7, 2021	Westin Chicago North Shore, Wheeling, IL Online	Aliette de Bodard, Brandon O’Brien, John Jennings, Michi Trota, Dr. Cacophonie Tamayo
Capricon 42	February 3-7, 2022	Sheraton Grand Chicago	Catherynne M. Valente, Gene Ha

Website.

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Convention
	1980—

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