I am going to Orycon 45, Oregon’s largest fan-run science fiction and fantasy convention, later this week…for the last time. This will be the last Orycon mainly because it is time for new ideas from new people, so we are getting out of the way and leaving on a high note, and not because we tried and failed(like far too many others). I have been going to this convention for over thirty years ( and been on committee for just under thirty of them) and I will miss it greatly. I have run Hospitality, worked for Security, and even co-chaired the whole shebang once (Orycon 30). Now, I have gone to many other fan-run conventions since 1978, and will probably go to many more in the future, but Orycon will always have a special place in my heart.
Kinda sorry to hear that. It’s sad to leave a con you’ve attended and worked at for so long. My wife and I have attended Arisia in Boston for decades, and have worked it for most of that time. My wife dropped out of working it this last year, although I’ve still been doing so. It’d be good to let fresh blood take over, but none of them seem to want to.
Do you have plans to go to some other con, or take up some other activity? You’ll probably want to d smething to plug that activity andcreativity hole in your life.
Probably help out at Norwescon early next year with Con Suite and a little event I call “Cereal And Toons”, and we plan to go to Worldcon in Los Angeles next fall.
Many years ago, when my Godchild Monica was about 12 (but looked much younger) My Beloved and I went shopping with her to get cereal for the Cereal And Toons event. The large shopping cart was stacked to the gills with various sugar bomb cold cereals (and one box of Uncle Sam cereal), and I asked Monica if she would take the cart up to the cashier while we stood back and watched. I gave her a wad of cash, and she rolled that overloaded cart that completely dwarfed her to the front and said loudly and gleefully “My mommy said I could have any cereal I want!”. The cashier replies “Why don’t we just wait until your mother comes up, o.k.?” Monica frowns, slams the wad of cash on the counter and says “My mommy says I can have any cereal I want!” My Beloved and I come forward laughing as the cashier starts ringing up all that cereal. 
That is the best story I have heard in a very long time.
mmm
Of course there was the time I needed to shop for meats and cheeses at the local grocery, Fred Meyers. I tell the young lady that I need to get a large amount of each, and she replies by showing me some flyers with pictures of various party trays on them that can be pre-ordered. When I said that I would need much more than what were on those trays, she said “Sir, you are allowed to order more than one tray, you know”. I grinned and said, while pointing at what they had on display, “I’ll need 150 lbs. of that, 75 lbs. of that, 25 lbs. of that, 40 lbs. of that..” She stops me, squeaking out “Letmegetmymanager!” After we got that all settled, I returned the day before the convention…and was pleasantly surprised. They sliced everything thin(saving us a lot of time and effort!), put it all in 5 lb. bags, boxed it all up nicely…and gave us a nice discount on everything because we were a 501(c)(3) tax deductable organization!