VCON

— Vancouver’s annual Science Fiction convention. ( ‘VCON’ is a registered trademark owned by the British Columbia Science Fiction Association. ) Apart from the occasional Canadian Worldcon, VCON, started in 1971, is Canada’s oldest ongoing convention. For comparison’s sake, here are the startup dates of several Canadian Conventions, followed by some North West American conventions:

CANADIAN: VCON 1 – ( 1971 ), Halcon 1 – ( 1978 ), Maplecon 1 – ( 1978 ), Noncon 1 – ( 1978 ), Boreal 1 – ( 1979 ), Canvention 1 – ( 1980 ), Ad Astra 1 – ( 1981 ), Conversion 1 – ( 1984 ), Keycon 1 – ( 1984 ), PineKone 1 – ( 1988 ) & Cancon 1 – ( 1989 ).

AMERICAN NORTH WEST: Norwescon 1 – ( 1978 ), Moscon 1 – ( 1979 ), Orycon 1 – ( 1979 ), Vikingcon 1 – ( 1980 ), & Rustycon 1 – ( 1984 ).

Note: events are as listed in program books. Some may have been cancelled and replaced with other items. Future research may result in some changes to listings, but at least as they stand the listings give an excellent idea as to what was planned for each VCON. )

Warning! Excessive amount of programming detail! But this CanFancyclopedia is written on behalf of both BCSFA & WCSFA, the traditional sponsors of VCON, and the VCON entry is intended to provide the maximum amount of information possible for members of both organizations to understand their VCON heritage, and for the sake of old-timers like myself, to reminisce.

Them as has no interest are advised to scroll quickly through the pages devoted to VCON. Conrunners and Programmers, on the other hand, may find it of interest to track the evolution of programming over the decades in this, Canada’s most venerable SF convention. And given that the programming involves changing tastes and interests among fans of the day, fan historians may find it of use as well.