Utah to Bid for 2024 Westercon

A Salt Lake City-based group has announced a write-in bid to host the 2024 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference (Westercon 76). If selected, they plan to host Westercon 76 at the Doubletree by Hilton SLC Airport over the weekend of July 4-7, 2024. The election to choose the site of Westercon 76 will be held at Westercon 74 in Tonopah, Nevada over the weekend of July 1-4, 2022, with voting closing on July 2. There are no bids on the ballot, nor do there appear to be any other candidates vying to host Westercon 76.

The Utah in 2024 Westercon bid is led by Chair Charles R. Galway and Treasurer Cheryl A. Sneddon. Both have experience with the Salt Lake City-area convention CONduit and other volunteer events ranging from CONduit to Westercon and larger non-genre events. They are in the process of finalizing their bid filing with Westercon 74 in Tonopah, and they expect to file their bid before the close of voting at Westercon 74. Representatives of the bid will be at Westercon 74 in Tonopah to answer questions.

No bids filed by the deadline to appear on the ballot for the 2024 site selection election. Under Westercon rules, groups may file as write-in bids until the close of voting. Any site that files the necessary documents required by the Westercon Bylaws can be selected through the election process at Westercon. Should no validly-filed bid win the election, the Westercon Business Meeting can select a committee. If the Business Meeting is unable to select a committee, the selection of the site falls to the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, owners of the Westercon service mark.

The Site Selection election at Westercon 74 to select the site of the 2024 Westercon will be held on the first two days of Westercon 74 in Tonopah, Nevada. Westercon 74 will be held July 1-4, 2022 at the Tonopah Convention Center and area hotels. The Westercon 74 website is http://westercon74.org/. Voting to select the site of Westercon 74 will close at 7 PM Pacific Daylight Time on July 2, 2022. All supporting or attending members of Westercon 74 are eligible to vote, although due to the deadline for advance voting by mail, votes will need to be cast at Westercon 74.

Any member of Westercon 74 in Tonopah can vote in the election to choose the site of the 2024 Westercon upon payment of a $20 voting fee, which entitles the voter to at least a supporting membership in the 2024 Westercon. Information about the 2024 Site Selection election is available at the Westercon 74 website at http://westercon74.org/whats-on/business-meeting-site-selection/site-selection/. There is no electronic voting, and voting fees may not be paid by credit card. Members unable to attend Westercon 74 in person may arrange for other persons to deliver their ballots on their behalf to the Site Selection voting desk at Westercon 74 in Tonopah.

Anyone who joins Westercon 74 as a Supporting member by June 25, 2022 will also have access to the convention’s Virtual Program, http://westercon74.org/whats-on/programming/virtal-program/. To register as a member of Westercon 74, see the convention’s registration page at http://westercon74.org/membership/. Advance registration for Westercon 74 ends at the end of the day on June 25.

Westercon Site Selection is governed by the Westercon Bylaws, which are available online at http://www.westercon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/WesterconBylaws-202111.pdf.

The results of 2024 Westercon Site Selection voting will be announced at the Westercon 74 Business Meeting on Sunday, July 3 at 11 AM PDT in the Tonopah Convention Center. Should no eligible bid win the election, the Westercon Business Meeting can select a committee under the provisions of the Westercon Bylaws.

Progress Report 5 Published

Westercon 74 has published Progress Report 5 on our Publications page, with paper copies mailed to those members who requested them or who did not provide us with an e-mail address. Copies sent by postal mail also include a copy of the 2024 Westercon Site Selection Ballot.

PR 5 contains a copy of our COVID-19 Health & Safety Policy, updates on Programming and Events at Westercon, the Westercon Bylaws, the current membership list, and updated hotel booking information about the convention. Unlike our earlier “mini-reports,” this is a full-sized, 16-page progress report.

Westercon 76 Site Selection Open; No Bids Filed by Deadline

No group filed a bid by the April 15, 2022 deadline to host Westercon 76 (the 2024 West Coast Science Fantasy Conference). Bids can still file up until the close of voting (7 PM PDT, July 2, 2022) to be eligible as a write-in bid to win the election.

Site Selection voting is now open. See our Site Selection page for more information and to download a ballot. The ballot will also be distributed to members as part of Progress Report 5, scheduled for publication sometime in May. You can vote by postal mail (the address is on the ballot) or in person at Westercon 74 in Tonopah, or you can designate someone to deliver your ballot on your behalf to the convention. Voting will be open on July 1 and 2, and will close at 7 PM PDT on Saturday, July 2, 2022.

Should no eligible bid receive sufficient votes, or if None of the Above wins, the selection of the site of Westercon 76 will fall to the Westercon Business Meeting, which is scheduled for 11 AM on Sunday, July 3, 2022 in the Main Hall of the Tonopah Convention Center.

Note that no bid was selected to host Westercon 75 (the 2023 Westercon) at last year’s convention, but a committee was formed to attempt to find a group to host the convention. As of now, no groups have come forward prepared to host Westercon 75. It is likely that the determination of arrangements for both Westercons 75 and 76 will be up to the members of Westercon at this year’s Business Meeting. If the Business Meeting is unable to make a decision, the determination of arrangements for Westercon will be left up to the board of directors of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, owners of the Westercon service mark.

Seattle Westercon Disbands; Westercon 74 Continues

Westercon 73, previously scheduled to be held in Seattle (Sea-Tac), Washington, announced on April 11, 2021 that they are disbanding. In accordance with arrangements made with LASFS, owners of the Westercon service mark, members of the Seattle Westercon who do not request a membership refund will have their memberships honored by Loscon 47, scheduled for November 26-28, 2021 at the Marriott Los Angeles Airport Hotel. Because Westercons are independently organized by different groups, the decision by the Seattle committee does not affect the Tonopah Westercon.

Westercon 74 is still scheduled to be held in person Friday, July 1, through Monday, July 4, 2022 in Tonopah, Nevada.

Tonopah Wins 2021 Westercon

The bid for Tonopah, Nevada in 2021 won the right to host Westercon 74 in voting held at Westercon 72/SpikeCon in Layton, Utah. Westercon 74 will be July 2-5, 2021 at the Tonopah Convention Center, Mizpah/Belvada Hotels, and other hotels to be announced, in Tonopah, Nevada.

As previously announced while bidding, Westercon 74 does not currently anticipate having Guests of Honor. However, the convention will consider inviting special guests through outside sponsorship should the opportunity arise.

Westercon 74 Progress Report Zero is available for download.

If you did not vote in Westercon 74 Site Selection, you can buy a new supporting or attending membership through Westercon 74’s registration page. Please note that Grenadine’s system uses the word “ticket” to refer to what we call a “membership,” and that credit card payments through Grenadine will be processed by Stripe. Credit card payments made in person at our fan table are processed through Square.

Because of online processing fees, we ask that if it is possible for you to do so, if you voted on Westercon 74 site selection at SpikeCon (Westercon 72 in Layton UT) and want to upgrade to an attending membership for $10 through the end of 2019, you download our registration form below and mail your $10 payment to us at the address below.

You can also join by downloading our current registration form and mailing it with payment by check, money order, or credit card to:

Westercon 74
PO Box 61363
Sunnyvale CA 94088-1363

Online upgrades will be available once we have loaded all of the voting records into the database.

Thank you everyone who voted for us and supported us!

Tonopah’s bid received 82 of the 134 ballots cast with a preference, with the other filed bid, Phoenix, receiving 51 votes, and a write in vote for “Both” receiving 1 vote. 68 votes (a majority of the ballots expressing a preference) were required to elect. There were 6 No Preference (abstention) ballots cast, for a total of 140 ballots of all types.

The details results of voting are:

Candidate Mail Thu Fri Total
Phoenix, AZ 3 11 37 51
Tonopah, NV 9 32 41 82
Both 1 1
None of the Above 0
Total With Preference 134
Needed to Elect (Majority) 68
No preference 6 6
Total votes cast 140